LIBRARY OF C0NG1?ESS. 

Slie]f....VNl.lP3 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



PATIENCE OF HOPE 



AND 



OTHER SERMONS, 

BY THE LATE . 

REV. JOSEPH H. WRIGHT, 
WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 

J EDITED BY 



dUVERJ. THATCHER. 




FUNK & WAGNALLS 

NEW YORK : LONDON : 

1889 

18 AND 20 ASTOB PLACE. 44 FLEET STEEET. 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S89, by 
FUNK & WAGNALLS, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

PREFACE 5 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9 

I. THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 17 

II. THE GOSPEL CALL 31 

III. FINISHED 43 

IV. PRISONERS OF HOPE 57 

V. JOHN THE GREAT 68 

VI. THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD 81 

VII. THE ONLY SALVATION 94 

VIII. god's word like rain 108 

IX. god's building 125 

X. OUR GOD 139 

XI. OUR SUN AND SHIELD 150 

XII. DANGER, DUTY AND COMFORT. . . a . 164 

XIII. THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY 177 

XIV. TRUTH 191 

XV. CONVINCING THE WORLD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 210 



PREFACE. 



After the death of the Eev. Joseph H. Wright the 
wish was expressed by many that some of his sermons 
might be published, and especially those whose pastor he 
had been desired to have some of his sermons in such a 
form that they could easily be preserved. It seemed to 
mmj that such a volume would be the most suitable 
memorial of his life. For various reasons it seemed 
best that the editing of them should be undertaken by 
me. The result is now placed before the public in this 
volume of fifteen sermons. 

The large number of his written sermons made the 
choice somewhat diflEicult, since many of them were 
of nearly equal excellence. Those chosen appear here 
in the chronological order of their production. 

The first two were written while he was a student of 
Theology, the first one indeed during his first year at the 
Seminary and is the first sermon he preached. No. VII 
was preached before the Ladies' Missionary Society of 
the First U. P. Church in Xenia, Ohio. No. VIII was 
preached before the Greene County Bible Society. No. 
IX was preached at the dedication of a new church by 

5 



6 



PREFACE, 



the U. P. congregation at Unity, Ohio. No. XIII was 
preached to the students of the U. P. Theological Sem- 
inary at Xenia. No. XIV was preached before the 
Christian Union of Monmouth College, Illinois. The 
others were preached in the regular Sabbath services in 
his own pulpit. 

The pulpit form of address has been retained through- 
out. No apology for this will be necessary when it is 
remembered that they are sermons prepared for the pul- 
pit and not for the press. Only such changes in them 
have been made as seemed truly necessary. Without 
doubt, if the author had been permitted to prepare 
them for publication, he would have corrected and 
improved them in many ways. It is a matter of 
great regret that they could not receive a thorough revi- 
sion from his careful hand. 

Much that fascinated those that heard these sermons 
will be lacking to those that read them. The flashing 
eye, the eager earnest face, the appropriate gesture, the 
fervid manner, the sympathetic moving voice, above all 
his firm conviction of the truth of his words, and his 
deep spiritual earnestness, in short, much of the strong 
personality that appeared in the delivery of his sermons 
will not be felt by the reader. But for those who have 
heard him often it will not be difficult to supply all these 
things. Although dead he will still speak to them. But 
may all who read them find and accept the truth that is 
in them, and may the Master whom he served in love, 



PREFACE. 7 

bless this effort to enable him to speak to a larger audi- 
ence. The work will not have been in vain, if any who 
read them shall have their spiritual pulse quickened and 
strengthened with new life. 

OLIVER J. THATCHER. 
U. P. Theological Seminary, 
Allegheny, Pa. Sept. 21, 1889. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Joseph Hareison Wright was born in Mullagreenan, 
Monaghan County, Ireland, July 19th, 1849. He was 
the youngest of five children born to George and Ann 
Stewart Wright. While he was still in infancy his 
father died and at the advice of friends his mother 
sold her home and came to America that her children 
might have better advantages. She settled in Delaware 
County, New York, where her brothers were already 
located. Here his childhood was spent, in a region 
famed for its quiet beauty, and known as the scene of 
some of Cooper's novels. These early took great hold 
on his imagination and stirred up in him a love for 
literature which he cultivated all his life. For about ten 
years he was sent to the excellent Academy at Ferguson- 
ville, where he excelled as a pupil and gained the lasting 
affection of his teachers. For a few vears he then 
worked on the farm. 

When he was sixteen years old he was converted. 
He well remembered the time and place where he knelt 
in prayer and gave his heart to God. He united with 
the United Presbyterian Church at West Kortright, 
whose pastor was the Eev. Dr. John Eippey. From the 
first his religious life was marked by earnestness and 
clearness. His voice was soon heard in the prayer meet- 
ing and led by a desire to reach the hearts and lives of 

9 



lO 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



the other young people in the neighborhood he was one 
of the principal agents in establishing a prayer meeting 
for the young. The meeting was continued for years and 
had great influence in forming and molding the religious 
character of those who attended it. 

Almost from the time of his conversion he believed 
that he was called to be a minister of the Gospel of 
Christ. His pastor, seeing his fitness and ability, 
encouraged him in this, and in order to fit him for 
college, generously gave him private instruction. In 
further preparation he spent some time in the Academy 
at Andes and entered Union College in 1868, where he 
soon won a name as an exact, pains-taking and brilliant 
student. But at the close of his junior year, he was com- 
pelled to leave his class because of trouble with his eyes, 
caused by a too early use of them after an attack of 
measles. His eyes never regained their natural strength 
and he always felt greatly crippled on this account. By 
private study, however, he was able so far to complete 
the studies of the senior year that the Faculty excused 
him from attendance at college the next winter also. In 
this way he was able to begin the study of Theology at 
once. In 1872 he entered Union Theological Seminary, 
New York, where he spent the next two years, return- 
ing to college in the spring of '73 to receive his diploma. 

At Lansingville, April 29th, 1874, he was licensed to 
preach. He spent the next year in completing his 
theological studies at the United Presbyterian Theolog- 
ical Seminary in Newburgh. He then accepted a call to 
the U. P. Church at Davenport, New York, over which 
be was ordained and installed as pastor May 25th, 1875. 
It was a happy settlement. He had almost grown up 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



H 



among tbe people of this congregation. They ha^ 
known him from a boy, and he seemed one of their own 
number. To him it was a source of the greatest happi- 
ness that he was called to minister to those who were 
already his acquaintances and friends. His labors among 
them were abundantly blessed and the breaking of the 
pastoral tie was the cause of mutual regret and sorrow. 

During this pastorate, April 26th, 1876, he was united 
in marriage to Miss Ella M. King, of Pulaski, New 
York, who was not only a devoted wife but became also 
an efficient and earnest helper in all his work. Few 
homes have been happier than theirs. To them were 
born nine children, seven of whom are yet living. 

In 79 he became the pastor of the Fifth U. P. Church 
in Philadelphia. He remained here only a year and a 
half when he was called to the First U. P. Church in 
Xenia, Ohio, where the remainder of his life was spent. 
Here he gave his days and nights to the work and 
labored incessantly. By constant study he tried to get a 
better understanding of the Truth, and Sabbath after 
Sabbath, endeavored to present this to the congregation in 
a fresh and attractive form. He was also frequently called 
to do the work of an evangelist in other places and his 
work was always blessed. 

All this time he was increasing in power. He was in 
his fortieth year but had not reached his prime. He was 
still rapidly growing and seemed to be entering on what 
promised to be a far more fruitful period of his life. 
Apparently he was only beginning his work. His life 
thus far seemed but the preparation for, and the earnest 
of, far greater things. But on the 9th of last March 
after a very busy week, while sitting in the evening con- 



12 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



versing with friends who had called, he was suddenly 
taken ill. The disease was pleuro-pneumonia, and in 
spite of all efforts to help him he quietly passed away 
on the morning of the 20th of March. 

All who came into contact with him were impressed 
with his cheerful and happy disposition. His jovial, 
hearty laugh was infectious. His words were always 
cheerful and hopeful and his visits to the sick, the down- 
cast, and the discouraged were always welcome, for he 
came like a burst of sunshine on a dark day. His fine 
sense of humor, his quick wit and ready repartee, his 
high intellectual attainments, and his catholicity of spirit 
made him one of the most delightful of companions. 
He was welcome in all circles. He had such a deep 
impression of the myriad sides of life and was so 
thoroughly alive to all that concerns it that he was in 
ready touch and sympathy with all, and so could mingle 
easily and freely with all. He came close to people, for 
they felt instinctively that he was a true friend. 

Although so sunny in his disposition, he was not 
insensible to the shadow. Even more than his own the 
sorrows and burdens of others seemed to oppress him. 
His warm heart was running over with sympathy and he 
forgot his own troubles in listening to those of others. 
He was especially gifted in speaking comforting words to 
the sorrowing. He made their sorrows his own and so 
deep and close was his sympathy that he could speak 
just those words that would bring most comfort. Inter- 
preting God's providence in the light of His Fatherhood, 
he made cheerful submission to His will easy, and mis- 
fortune and bereavement were shown to be God's minis- 
ters sent to do us good and make us more like Christ. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



13 



He often expressed his thankfulness that it was his life 
work to carry comfort and cheer to hearts that were sad 
and heavy. 

These qualities gave him power in pastoral work, in 
which he took delight. While he loved to preach, it 
was a still greater pleasure to him to meet men singly 
and to press upon them the claims of the Gospel, or to 
help them solve their particular difficulties. If he 
knew that any one needed him he was wholly at his 
service. Although fatigued by the labors of the day he 
would gladly sit late into the night, repeating over and 
over " the old, old story/' pleading that it might be 
accepted and praying for the salvation of the inquirer. 
Of his faithfulness as a pastor, all who were under his 
care can testify. He was assiduous in visiting the sick, 
in cheering the downcast and discouraged and in com- 
forting the bereaved. He was faithful and tender in 
warning and rebuking those who seemed to be departing 
from the way. He was accessible to all and had a 
manner that inspired men with confidence and invited 
them to seek advice of him. And he possessed that 
rare power of approaching men easily, and without 
offense inquiring about their religious welftire. 

As a preacher he was eminently successful and was 
gladly heard by all. Few preachers are more conscien- 
tious in their preparation for the pulpit than he was. 
He gave much prayerful study to every text he chose in 
order to learn the truth it contained, and then strove 
with all his might to present it in such a way that all 
would easily understand it and be led to accept it. Clear, 
crisp thinking, and plain, vigorous statement were his 
aim. He excelled in the art of illustrating. His 



14 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, 



illustrations always illustrated, and by tlieir beauty, apt- 
ness and force often carried conviction to the minds and 
hearts of his hearers. He was an omnivorous but 
systematic reader and close observer and drew his illus- 
trations from every source. Art, science, nature, history, 
literature, all were laid under tribute and readily lent 
him their richest materials for illustrations. 

His greatest power, however, lay in the fact that he 
had a message to deliver, a message in which he be- 
lieved with all his soul. He was an ambassador for 
God and was conscious that he brought the very news 
that all the world needed. He spoke with all the 
earnestness of conviction and plead with all the tender- 
ness of love. And no one who heard him could 
for a moment think that he did not believe all he said. 

Two things in his religious life stood out prominently ; 
his sense of his own sinfulness and his faith in God as 
his Father. He kept a very close account with himself, 
knew his besetting sins and prayed and fought against 
them earnestly. In talking and preaching about 
Heaven he dwelt on the fact that there is no sin there. 
And those that have talked with him in private about 
this will not soon forget the light that came into his face 
when he repeated, as he often did, the words, " No more 
sin there." He loved to dwell on God's holiness. Con- 
scious of his own sinfulness and feeling keenly his daily 
struggles against temptation he longed for the time when 
he should stand before God perfect in righteousness. 

His faith in God as his Father knew no wavering. He 
often said, ^' He loves us better than we can love our- 
selves.'' He knew that he had been constantlv led in a 
way better than he himself could have chosen and so he 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



15 



found it easy to submit to God's will. When long 
cherished plans could not be carried out he simply said, 
"I will be glad that it is so since it is His will." He 
loved Faber's poem, The Will of God," and often re- 
peated it softly to himself while walking or riding or in 
going about his work at home. 

" 111 that he blesses is our good 
And unblessed good is ill. 
And all is right that seems most wrong 
If it be His sweet will." 

His work is done. His life so eloquent with bearing 
witness for Christ has dropped out of this world to be 
made glorious with praise in the world above. His 
death has left a great void in our church, in our homes, 
and in our hearts. But many of us know that through 
him the whole current of our lives has been changed 
and led into new channels. Through him, many lives 
are purer and stronger and many hearts have hopes, for 
he taught them the Avay of life. And in us he will live 
on, a life multiplied by ours, and his influence extending 
in ever widening circles until at last we come to stand 
with him forever before God, and our tears too have been 
wiped away and our faces made radiant with the sight 
of God. 



I. 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 

" It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the 
salvation of the Lord." — Lam. iii. 26. 

MEN of great power and lofty station in days of old, 
have lived their lives a hundred times over, for 
the benefit of posterity, in the pages of their biographers. 
Pens to depict and pencils to portray, the various epi- 
sodes of their lives have not been wanting. The num- 
ber and minuteness of these life-sketclies have usually 
been in proportion to the magnitude of the virtues or 
vices of their subjects. 

Such being the rule, we would naturally enough 
expect a full account of the lives of the men selected by 
infallible AVisdom to be the prophets of the Most High 
Jehovah. We look for copious details of their personal 
appearance, of their habits of life, of their daily doings, 
but we look in vain. They have left behind them scanty 
materials out of which to construct a bioiiraphy. How- 
ever useful to us might be a picture of their individual 
experiences, of their way of meeting temptations, of 
their failures and successes, of their struggles. with doubt 
and their joy in finding light, it has seemed best to 
Omniscience to leave us in almost utter ignorance of 
these things. Glimpses we have, all the more interesting 
from their rarity. 

In all the goodly fellowship of the prophets, there is 

2 17 



i8 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE, 



no other of whose feelings and sufferings we have such 
distinct knowledge as we have of those of Jeremiah. 
Yet of even him we know so little that the dates of his 
birth and death can not be satisfactorily ascertained. 
From his appearance we can trace him onward, for more 
than forty years, till carried away into Egypt where the 
close of his life is lost in the same obscurity which 
shrouds his birth. His life is like the river of time des- 
cribed by Addison, which " rises out of a thick mist at 
one end and again loses itself in a thick mist at tlie 
other." What we certainly know of him may be gath- 
ered from the book which bears his name. Through the 
sacred authors as channels, there flows down to us the 
river of the water of life, and the stream is somewhat 
impregnated with the nature of the soil through which 
it passes. 

Especially is this true of Jeremiah. Such is the 
intimate connection between his work and himself that 
in reading of the one we learn much of the other. Con- 
cerning his associates we gather that he was contempo- 
rary with the prophets Zedekiah, Habakkuk, and Urijah, 
and with the prophetess Huldah ; that he lived in Judea 
and uttered his prophecies during the reigns of Josiali, 
Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah, covering 
a period of about sixty years. 

Of his nature we infer that he was very impressible 
and impulsive, had a spirit easily bowed down, and was 
intensely conscious of his own weakness. With all this 
natural mildness and gentleness, he had a soul — not to 
scorn suffering — but calmly to bear it. 

Kegarding his life, we learn that it was a life-long 
martyrdom. Opposed by kings, priests, and people, he 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 



19 



drank to the dregs tlie bitter cup of strife, till lie cried 
out, " woe is me my mother that thou hast borne me a 
man of strife and a man of contention to the whole 
earth." At last the phials of God's wrath were poured 
out upon a " stiff-necked people." Jerusalem was laid 
on heaps. Zedekiah and his nobles were carried off to 
Babylon. Of the remnant left from the sword and gyves 
of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah was one. The gray-haired 
prophet, now verging toward sixty years of age, gave 
utterance to his sorrow in the Lamentations. The first 
chapter is a wail for the solitude and desolation of Jeru- 
salem ; the second, for the destruction that has laid it 
waste, and the third chiefly, though not exclusively, 
expresses his own sore calamities. That he mourned not 
as one without hope is reasonably manifest from the 
verse before us. It is good that a man should both 
hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." 

What is it to quietly wait for the salvation of the 
Lord ? Salvation here means deliverance, and the salva- 
tion of the Lord, that deliverance which God sends to 
his children oppressed by any trouble whatsoever. In 
this case it refers undoubtedly to the "sea of troubles" 
whose billows now threaten to engulf Jeremiah and also, 
in some measure, to the captivity of his brethren. More 
remotely the allusion is to the sorrows which God gives 
to his people in all ages. To wait quietly for salvation 
from these, is to bear them with meek and patient 
endurance. It is to " commune with your own heart and 
be still." It is to act upon the advice Isaiah gave to 
Judah, "Your strength is to sit still." "Be still, and 
know that I am God." It is to offer from a full heart 
and with all sincerity the petition taught us by the 



20 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 



lips of Christ and enforced by His example in tlie garden: 
"Thy will, not mine be done." 

It is shown in a spirit of entire submission to the 
divine will in the commonplace matters of everyday life. 
Despise not the " day of small things.'^ We are apt to 
overlook the effect on our character and destiny of what 
we, with strange infatuation, name trifles. Trifles! why, 
drops make the ocean ; seconds make the yearsP Fur 
the trifling negligence of the blacksmith, a shoe — a 
horse — a rider — a kingdom was lost." A murderer was 
traced, detected, and executed, from the trifling circum- 
stance of a bent nail in his boot. 

Watch the sculptor. It was by trifling blows of the 
mallet that Michael Angelo set free the angel be had de- 
clared imprisoned in the unsightly block of senseless 
marble. When the goodly work seemed to others fin- 
ished, the eye of the master saw defects and excres- 
cences, and his deft hand lightly tapping, tapping, shaped 
the growing form into more perfect resemblance to his 
own exalted ideal. So God sees in you, buried it may 
be in the rubbish of this world, or in the crust of sin, a 
soul whose proper place is among the holy angels, and 
his hands take the mallet and the chisel to set 3^our 
angel-nature free. His ideal is, to make that nature 
"meet to partake of the inheritance with the saints in 
light." And wlien j^ou feel j^ourself growing irritable by 
reason of insignificant but necessary daily duties, or pee-, 
vish from petty provocations, remember, God sees in you 
many sad defects to remedy, and tliese little things are 
the tappings of His chisel to clear away the rubbish, re- 
move the crust and bring out a closer resemblance to 
Him in whose glorious image you are made. 



THE PA TIENCE OF HOPE. 



21 



Does it seem as if these trivial matters were beneath 
the notice of the Almighty ? What does earth hold 
that is not trivial to Him before whom ''the nations are 
counted as the small dust of tlie balance ? " Looking 
fi'om His point of view, the difference between so-called 
small and great matters, though magnified a million times, 
would be to us invisible. The relative magnitude of in- 
finitely small quantities is a matter of entire indifference, 
in so precise a science even, as mathematics. Tlie things 
to which we attach least importance, are frequently those 
chosen of God as means to His grandest ends. His great- 
ness appears from the variety of His manifestations as 
much as from their magnitude. He makes the thunders 
of Sinai rive the sin-hardened heart, warning it that "our 
God is a consuming fire ; " but to the trembling, pleading 
penitent, there comes the " still small voice from Calvary, 
whispering sweetly, ''God is love." " Whether, there- 
fore, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God." 

Again, it is shown by meek firmness of spirit under re- 
verses of fortune. When blows that stun from their sud- 
denness fall upon you, in the loss of money or health, 
position or reputation ; when from a clear sky the bolt 
of vengeance falls upon you ; when the hand of destiny 
dashes in pieces the pleasant cup it was just raising to 
your thirsty lips ; when you gaze, as Audubon and 
Newton, upon the toilsome work of years reduced to 
ashes in a moment ; when the stately fabric you have 
all your lives long been toiling to build, crumbles into 
ruins at the touch of the topmost stone ; when the scorn 
of enemies and the jeers of the indifferent are swallowed 
iip in far more bitter pain at the perfidy of friends, whose 



22 



THE PATIEXCE OE HOPE, 



Lands -were in the dish with yours, but whose heels are 
Lfted up against you ; when the plans you have formed 
with high resolve are utterly confounded by unforeseen 
events, and the hopes you have cherished with fond so- 
licitude fade aw^ay in the fell gloom of despair; whei; 
nil or any of these calamities assail yon, then learn in 
lowliness of spirit to jiut your trust in Him alone who 
never disappoints. 

The lesson may be hard to learn, but if so, there is 
tiie more need to con it thoroughly. It may be that the 
idols wrenched from your hearts have left them torn 
and bleeding, but in Gilead there is sovereign balm. It 
may seem as if a large part of life itself has been cut 
away, but ask Ilim who " filleth all in all to occupy 
tlie vacancy with His own healing presence, and thank 
Him from the depths of humble fervent hearts, for lov- 
ing you so truly as to covet your whole heart. iTave 
you not j)rofessed Him to be your portion for this life, 
as well as for the life to come ? Would you be free from 
reverses in this life? Wretched mortals! who say to 
their souls, ^* Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for 
many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry." 
Thou fool, ''The hail shall sweep away the refuge of 
lies." He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh " at 
your calamities and mock " when your fear cometh as 
desolation and your destruction cometh as a w^hirl- 
wind." Better, far better, to quietly wait through 
a few sharp disappointments here than to be roused from 
a bed of slothful ease at last only to open your eyes in 
anguish with ascertain fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and fiery indignation.'' 

But most of all is quiet waiting for the salvation of 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 23 

the Lord shown in resignedly bearing the yoke of severe 
affliction. When the floods overwhelm you and all his 
waves and billows beat upon you, then, though almost 
hopeless, cry out of the depths mightily to the Lord and 
He will bring you out of all your distresses. " He mak- 
eth the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are 
still." His command is as potent to subdue the angry 
tumult of your troubled soul as it was to still the raging 
turbulence of the mad waves of Galilee. " thou af- 
flicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I 
will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy founda- 
tion with sapphires ; — In righteousness shalt thou be es- 
tablished ; thou shalt be far from oppression ; for thou 
shalt not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come 
near thee." Jeremiah felt that there was no sorrow like 
unto his sorrow, yet it worked out for him a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; for in his darkest 
hour he could truly say, It is good that a man should 
botli hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the 
Lord." 

But what is it to hope for this salvation? The word 
here translated hope " is a little differently rendered in 
some other places in the Bible. In one place " tarry " is 
the word used, in another, " wait." But in all cases where 
another word than hope " is used, the meaning is clear- 
ly shown by the context to be, waiting with confident ex- 
pectation that the thing tarried for will surely come to 
pass. This view of its meaning is confirmed, and much 
light gained, by comparing the clause now under consid- 
eration with the fifth and eleventh verses of the forty- 
second Psalm, where the same w^ord is used in the origi- 
nal. The base conduct of his unnatural son Absalom 



24 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE, 



has driven David from Jerusalem and from the sanctuary 
for which his soul panteth as the hunted hart for the 
water brooks. The psalm whether written by himself 
or by one of the sons of Korah for him, is David's wail 
of sorrow. In the midst, and at the close, of this out- 
break of feeling he confidently exclaims, " Why art thou 
cast down, my soul? and why art thou disquieted in 
me? Iwpe thou in God ; for I shall yet praise Him." 

It is then no dull, stupefied, benumbed state of feeling 
which the prophet here calls good, nor yet a calmness 
arising from dogged stoicism, but a patient endurance of 
one's lot coupled with a yearning for relief, so strong as 
to become a prophecy that relief will come. To Jere- 
miah it was revealed that Jerusalem must be laid waste 
and its inhabitants slain or carried off to exile. Yet 
while in a dungeon, and with death at his elbow, he 
bought with all due formalities a parcel of ground from 
his kinsman, in the confident hope that houses and fields 
and vineyards should " again be possessed in the land." 
Such action finds but one parallel in history. Livy tells 
us, when Hannibal's victorious army was hourly ex- 
pected to be thundering at the gates of Eome, and dis- 
may filled all hearts, that a noble Eoman bought at its 
full value the ground then occupied by the enemy's 
trenches. 

AYe have the same word of promise in which to trust 
as did Jeremiah. Well did the Psalmist understand this 
feeling when he exclaimed, I wait for the Lord, my 
soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul 
waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the 
morning. I say, more than they that watch for the 
morning." 



THE PA TIENCE OF HOPE, 



25 



For many months the citizens of Aix repelled every 
assault of the city's beseigers. Eeduced at length to a 
starving condition, further resistance was impossible and 
an agreement was signed to surrender, provided succor 
did not arrive within twenty-four hours. That was 
early in the morning. The day passed with no alarm to 
disturb the quiet serenity that had settled down upon 
the beleaguering camp. At nightfall a horse foam- 
flecked and dust-covered dashed up to the city, whose 
rider announced that a large army was on its way to the- 
rescue of the famished citizens, and would arrive by- 
daybreak the next morning. Heavy hearts leaped for 
joy and exultation lighted up wan faces, but only for a 
moment. What if the promised succor came too late ! 
There were many things to impede the progress of the 
coming host — the darkness of the night, ignorance of the 
way, inefficient commanders or treacherous guides — how 
slight a thing might cause a delay of an hour, and an 
hour from daybreak, they were pledged to surrender. 
Slowly the heavy night dragged by ; wearily wore the 
hours away. At midnight the city guard was changed. 

Let us follow the movements of the watchman, se- 
lected with special care, whose station is on that quarter 
of the walls whence the first approach of relief may be 
discovered. No sleepy dullard is he, careless of the re- 
sult. Already his keen, restless glances seek to pierce 
the veil of darkness for the gleam of friendly bayonets. 
Ever and anon he pauses at the turn of his beat, and 
listens intently for the faintest sound boding that help is 
near. But when the shrill chanticleer warns him that 
dayspring is nigh, how his blood tingles. The East now 
divides his attention with the South ; the coming dcvWU 



26 



THE PA TIEXCE OF HOPE. 



with tlie lioped for aid. Every nerve is tightly strung, 
Every faculty keenly awake. With heart full almost to 
bursting he notes the first faint streaks of gray that tinge 
the liorizon and usher in the morning. A little grayer 
grows the light, a little grayer grows the darkness, lie 
turns and lo! barely discernible to his eager vision, tlie 
swift ranks of the reenforcing troops are sweeping down 
upon the enemies' works. Tlien arose the tumult of 
battle, and when the King of day rose over the scene his 
glad beams fell upon a routed foe and a rescued city, 
whose every bell rang out an echo to the soldiers' shout 
of victor3^ 

Despondiiig Christian, is the night dense with gloom? 
The dawn is near. Is your heart heavy with sorrow? 
" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in 
the morning." Are you hemmed in by ruthless foes and 
worn out in the conflict with them? Courage! Christ 
Jesus, our great Captain, bringeth reenforcements. Hope 
for His coming. Doth thy soul faint for His salvation ? 
Hope in His word. Do thine eyes fail for His word? 

Forever, Lord, Thj^ word is settled in heaven, Thy 
faithfulness unto all generations.'' 

How is it good for a man thus to hope and thus to 
wait? ^'Sin brought death into our w^orld and all our 
woe.'' All then must suffer, for that all have sinned." 
To make the best of circumstances requires quiet sub- 
mission and confident hope. The caged bird may be;it 
its life out against the prison bars, but it can not break 
them. The unruly horse may champ the bit and chafe 
under the saddle, but the hand of his rider rules him 
literally with a rod of iron. The muzzled ox might as 
well kick against the pricks of the plowm^an's goad, as 



THE PA TIENCE OF HOPE. 



27 



for you to rebel against the severe discipline which must 
destroy the growth of sin in your nature. Accept the 
afflictions as God's laborers hired to break the clods and 
prepare the soil, and disappointments as life-giving 
showers causing the seed to germinate, and trifling 
annoyances as the gentle dews of grace dropping 
from heaven to stimulate the growth of the plant, 
causing it to bring forth first the tender blade, then the 
forming ear, then the full corn in the ear. Do this, and 
the furrows in your heart turned by the plowshare of 
suflering, will yet wave with a plenteous harvest of joy. 

It develops and strengthens Christian character. It 
teaches how ^'to suffer and be strong." "He that is 
slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that 
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." It gives 
control over the appetites and passions, an attainment 
absolutely necessary to such as run the race in a cor- 
rupted world for an incorruptible crown. Every one 
who has learned to be in subjection to the Father of 
spirits" in patient hope, may affirm with Paul, "I there- 
fore so run not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that 
beateth the air ; but I keep under my body and bring it 
into subjection." 

Again, it turns the attention from things seen and 
temporal to things unseen and eternal. By teaching you 
to set a just value upon the ephemeral shadows of earth, 
it calls to your mind the enduring and substantial bene- 
fits of heaven. It thus gradually weans your affections 
from the transient unrealities which are ill calculated to 
give you satisfaction, and as it transfers the soul from the 
service of sin to that of holiness, so it fixes the heart upon 
heavenly things. It brings you into closer, sweeter com- 



28 



THE PA TIENCE OF HOPE, 



muni on with One who " doth not from the heart afflict 
nor grieve the children of men," but chasteneth whom 
He loveth. It begets an earnest longing for the time 
Avlien you may be blessed with the fulness of His presence 
in heaven. ^' Even so come, Lord Jesus," becomes the 
language of your heart. It is the crowning glory of the 
Cliristian rehgion, embodied in this patient expectation, 
that it best equips a man for both worlds. 

It brings down showers of blessings upon his head. It 
leads him in ways of pleasantness and in paths of peace. 
Upon him the clouds drop fatness. His worst misfortunes 
become only stepping stones across the dismal swamps of 
earth to the gate of the garden of Paradise. All crosses 
he bears with cheerful patience, through buoyant hope of 
the ''recompense of reward." And his hope shall be 
more than realized, for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man the things " 
laid up in store for him beyond the portals of heaven. 

To sum up in a word all the benefits of him who hope- 
fully waits for the salvation of the Lord, he grows into 
the image of Christ. No better example of this could be 
adduced than that of Jeremiah. Though he saw Christ's 
day only with the prophetic eye of faith, yet the princi- 
ples Christ lived and died to exemplify, were deeply 
rooted in his heart, and had their full effect on his life. 
In the lives of the two, Jeremiah the weeping prophet, 
and Christ the man of sorrows, there is a close resem- 
blance. Upon each there came early in life a conscious- 
ness of his great mission. Each spent his life in opposing 
the moral degeneracy which had settled down on the 
Jewish people. By each, God sent his last warnings to a 
nation fast rushing to ruin. Neither had any large 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE. 



29 



measure of success. Each met with determined and 
rancorous opposition. Without honor in his own coun- 
try, each was driven from the home of his youth, Jesus, 
from Nazareth, Jeremiah, from Anathoth. Both pro- 
tested, admonished, entreated, but all in vain. The 
protests of Jeremiah against the false priests and prophets 
of bis day, are but forerunners of the woes denounced 
upon the Scribes and Pharisees by Christ. Both were 
men of te>^rs, who wept over the desolation their wain- 
ings availed not to avert. Each had a bitter cup to 
drink aMd each submitted with a struggle. To Christ 
were given taunts, scourging, and crucifixion; to Jere- 
miah torture and a living death in a prison-pit where his 
feet sunk in the mire. If, as many with good reason be- 
lieve, the twenty-second Psalm was written by Jeremiah, 
its first words make the likeness still stronger between 
him and the dying Saviour who found in them expression 
for His extreme^^t suffering. To complete the parallel, 
Jesus, to fit His disciples for the tribulation of the world, 
pjives them the charge, "In your patience, possess ye 
your souls,'' and Jeremiah testifies, " It is good that a man 
should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of 
the Lord." 

My brother, who art not the brother of Christ: Hast 
thou no part or lot in this matter? There is a message 
here for tliee also. It is a warning, silent but forcible. 
If it is (jood that a man should both hope and quietly 
wait for the salvation of the Lord, then it is had that a 
man should have no hope. It is worse that a man 
should quietly wait for the damnation of the Lord. It is 
worst of all that a man should entertain a false hope and 
indifferent patience until God forgets to be gracious, and 



30 



THE PATIENCE OF HOPE, 



for salvation sends despair. The sliarpest-toothed scor- 
pion of hell is the demon that hisses into the ears of the 
damned, "No hope." Dost thou wish to feel the gnaw- 
ing of the worm that never dies? This text is the Lord's 
pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to guide 
His patient people to a land of promise, the fruition of 
hope; but to thee, it is destruction at noonday and terror 
by night, through which glares in terrible anger, the 
"wrathful eye of Almighty God. Flee from the wrath to 
come, to the open arms of an inviting Saviour. He will 
provide a refuge and a covert from the storm. He pleads 
with thee, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith 
the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be as wool." Throw off the mantle of mad indif- 
ference which prevents you from seeing your nakedness. 
Come, put on the robe of your Eedeemer's righteousness. 
Sit, clothed and in your right mind at the feet of Jesus, 
and learn of Him how good it is " that a man should both 
hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." 



II. 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 

** Unto you, men, I call.'^ — Prov, viii. 4. 

E have here a call to be wise in that wisdom, the 
beginning of which is the "fear of the Lord," 
and we are told that the " fear of the Lord is, to hate evil." 
Tins is its negative side. Positively, the fear of the 
Lord is called a fountain of life, and the Psalmist asserts 
that " the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever." 

If any one is still uncertain as to the precise meaning 
of the fear of the Lord, and its intimate connection with 
true wisdom, let him ponder well the conditional promise 
given by Wisdom herself, " My son, if thou wilt receive 
my words so that thou incline thine ear unto Wisdom, 
yea, if thou criest after knowledge, if thou seekest her 
as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ; then 
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find 
the knowledge of God.'' 

Let us notice now some of the many characteristics of 
the call of- Wisdom, and I shall seek to present those 
which are more especially emphasized in this chapter. 

This call is genuine. By genuine is meant not simply 
that the call is actually made, but also that it is given in 
good faith. It is important to establish this at the out- 
set, lest in pursuing the theme, some question should 
arise concerning the sincerity of the call. If men doubt 
this call, whether it be of a covenant-keeping 

31 




32 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



God or not, the fault is their own. For though we believe 
not, yet He abide th faithful. He cannot deny himself, 
He is faithful that promised. ^' Know therefore that the 
Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepetli 
covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep 
His commandments, to a thousand generations." But it 
is needless to go beyond this chapter for confirmation of 
this truth. For my mouth shall speak truth; and 
wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words 
of my mouth are in righteousness ; there is nothing 
froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him 
that understandeth and right to them that find knowl- 
edge." The Lord of hosts and God of battles who sends 
ambassadors to the town of Mansoul, demanding its sur- 
render, is then no treacherous roving chieftain, who 
desires possesssion of the citadel only that he may mas- 
sacre the garrison and plunder the inhabitants. He is 
rather the rightful king of the city, who has devoted 
himself, Codrus-like, to death for its deliverance, and who 
asks that his great sacrifice should have a grateful re- 
quital. He rises from the grave to reassert his claims to 
the throne of the heart He has bought with His heart's 
blood. Do not think He will cheat with false promises 
the people He loved so well. Do not suppose He will 
lightly esteem the ownership of that, to buy which cost 
Him so dear. My brother, when the subtle tempter sug- 
gests the possibility of a doubt about the faithfulness of 
Him who calls you in Christ or of the genuineness of 
the gospel message, put the devil and the doubt reso- 
lutely behind you. Slay the dragon with a cleaving 
blow from the sword of the Spirit. Be this your answer, 
Thus saith the Lord." 



TffE CALL OF WISDOM, 



33 



This call is impartial. God is no respecter of persons. 
Ill this matter, "the rich and the poor meet together/' 
the peasant and the prince fare equally, the serf and the 
Czar are joined lovingly in the same heaven, or yoked 
hopelessly in the same hell. Not only social diversities 
are ignored, but mental, and moral, as well. The pro- 
foundest philosopher is no better than a fool if he heed 
it not, and the fool may through it become wise unto 
salvation. The scrupulous Euler who has kept the 
Decalogue from his youth up, is not too good to be bet- 
tered by it, and the besotted, swine feeding prodigal is 
not too bad to be raised by it and set safely on the Rock 
of Ages. 

Nations and kindreds and tongues and peoples are in- 
discriminately accosted by the voice of Wisdom. This 
is clear from the context. " She standeth in the top of 
high places, by the way in the places of the paths; she 
crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming 
in at the doors." Surrounded as ancient cities were by 
walls, the only entry was through the gates. Here 
might be found mingling together men out of every clime 
under heaven, of every degree of intellect and of morals. 
Thus in the streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost 
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dw^ellers in 
Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, 
and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the 
parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, 
Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians,. heard the call 
of Wisdom through Peter. 

The ministry of the incarnate Wisdom, from begin- 
ning to end, inculcates the same grand truth. At the 
well of Sychar he told the woman the hour was coming 
3 



34 



THE CALL OF WISDOM, 



when the worship of God would not be confined to Jeru- 
salem or to Gerizim, and His parting words to the 
twelve were in the same spirit, "Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Far as 
the trump of doom shall sound, the gospel call is to be 
heard. 

Impressed with this truth men of ardent piety and 
commanding talent have emulated their Master's zeal 
and devotion in carrying the "Wisdom of God unto 
salvation " far and wide throughout the world. For this, 
Moffat and Judson and Eliot have lived. For this, Liv- 
ingstone and Martyn and Brainerd have died. They 
despised their own ease and were instant " in journeyings 
often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils 
by the heathen., in perils in the wilderness, in perils in 
the sea, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, 
in hunger and thirst, in fastings often," s'mply and solely 
that they might carry out the will of God our Saviour, 
who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the 
knowledge of tlie truth. iBow forcible in this connec- 
tion are the words of Asaph, "The mighty God, even 
the Lord, has spoken and called the earth, from the ris- 
ing of the sun unto the going down thereof." 

This is an imposing call. Its Author is thoroughly 
self-conscious. Pie challenges to Himself the power of 
modifying, nay, even of radically changing all the issues 
of life, by changing the heart out of which the issues 
flow. He who can accomplish this must be no mere 
quack, and he who dai-es to assume such high preroga- 
tive must be either a rash impostor, or in very truth the 
One whose name is " Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty 
God." What are the terms in which He vindicates His 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



35 



claims ? " Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom : I am 
understanding; I have strength. Riches and honor are 
with me ; yes, durable riches, and righteousness. Ee- 
ceive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge 
rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than 
rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to 
be compared to it." 

Are these the words of truth and soberness ? Witness, 
all those for whom old things have passed away and all 
things become new. Witness, the long line of saints 
from ISToah to John, who became new creatures by 
attending to their call. Witness, the throng which no 
man can number, around the tlirone, "who cease not 
day or night " to cry, " Thou art worthy, Lord, for 
Thou hast redeemed us." 

Contrast with this testimony the barren labors of those 
false Christs who, like Theudns, "boast themselves to be 
somebody," and also like him are brought to naught. 
They speak "great swelling words" of promise, but 
their performance is contemptible. The Papist boasts 
himself innocent as an infant by the absolution of his 
Christ, the priest. The Universahst would have us 
believe it is in the crucible of suffering that putrid mor- 
tality throws off all its scum and from this it comes 
forth at length a polished jewel for the Temple of God. 
The moralist maintains, in opposition to Job, that a clean 
thing may be brought out of an unclean, a holy life 
out of a sinful heart, a blessed future out of a 
corrupt present, by the mere outward observance of 
the ten Commandments. The heart seems not to him 
"hard and flinty," "deceitful above all things and 
desperately wicked," but rather a plastic lump from 



36 THE CALL OF WISDOM. 

wliich the black drop of iniquity may easily be wrung — 
as the story says it was from the heart of Mohammed — 
and which will readily assume au}^ shape their moulding 
fingers choose to give it. Manj^ are the shortcuts, which 
pilgrims try, between the cit}^ of destruction and the 
celestial city, vainly hoping thus to reach safetj^ and 
happiness more quickly and easily than by the King's 
highway, which leads through tbe humbling wicket gate 
of simple faith in Christ. 

The great importance of attending promptly to tlie 
call of Christ in the guise of wisdom should be fixed in 
the mind, as commensurate with the dignity of the call 
itself. It is freighted with the weightiest interests that 
can arrest the mind, move the heart, or influence the life 
of immortal creatures. It concerns the safety of their 
lifeboat both on the little stream of the time that now is, 
and also on tlie boundless Ocean of Eternity, that 
washes the shores of the unknown Hereafter. Then let 
all other claimants for attention lose their power to 
attract. Let no mention be made of precious stones, for 
the price of wisdom is above them all. Let a man sell 
all that he hath and buy this pearl of great price. The 
topaz of Ethiopia, the onyx and the sapphire are so 
many gleaming basilisks, alluring to destruction, if tbeir 
baleful glitter be not overcome by a greater magnetism. 
The possessor of this one pure pearl is richer than 
Croesus, more potent than Alexander. 

The old myths tell us of a wonderful stone which 
possessed the strange property of changing evcr}^ thing 
it touched into gold. But the pearl of great price is the 
true philosopher's stone in which is lodged the magic 
virtue of transmuting all with which it comes in contact 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



37 



into royal coin, not of the gold of Ophir, but of the 
traer gold of pure hearts and good deeds. 

Tliere is a suggestive story told in some old parchment 
of a man who discovered in his researches that the 
philosopher's stone was lying within certain limits on 
the bank of a deep and rapid river. To this place he at 
once resorted with a bit of iron in his hand to test the 
various pebbles. Walking along the edge of the stream, 
he picked up one stone after another and as it failed to 
work any change in the iron threw it carelessly into the 
river. At length he picked up the long -sought stone, at 
whose touch the iron became gold; but overjoyed at the 
sight of the gold he unthinkingly tossed tiie precious 
stone alter the others into the whirling waters. So 
many a man, strolling along the bank of tlie river of 
time flings thoughtlessly away, not once, but Sabbath 
after Sabbath, tlie pearl of great price, from his very 
grasp, and there remains to him only the golden grain of 
additional knowledge which the touch of the jewel of 
truth has impressed upon his mind. 

The force of habit is in danger of ruining some of you 
forever. Just as the man reared within a stcme's throw 
of Niagara, neither appreciates nor heeds its roaring. It 
was the lullaby of his infant slumbers, the comrade of 
his boyish sports, the bosom friend of his youthful 
reveries, and the companion of his manly toils. Its 
awful roar stuns tlie casual visitor but jars not a nerve 
in him. So it is with the people renred in Christian 
society under Christian teaching. The invitation of 
Christ — whose voice, in the Apocalypse, is likened to 
the " sound of many waters " — falls on their ears un- 
heeded. They let the gospel offers pass idly by, as the 



38 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



wind til at fondl J kisses their clieeks, but can not Woo 
them to seek whence it cometh or whither it goeth. 

This call is generous. Tlie Lord "who is rich in 
mercv, for the greai love wherewith He loved us, hath 
raised us up together and made us sit together in 
heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Such is the language 
of all those who hsten to the call of Wisdom. " Behold, 
happy is the man that findeth Wisdom, and the man 
that getteth understanding." '* Wisdom's ways are ways 
of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." For this, 
let all Christians render praise to Him " who hath called 
us with a holy calling," and with one heart and one 
voice swell the anthem of His praise. But let us not 
spend all our time and strength in hosannas. Kemember 
the exhortation of the Apostle, which speaketh unto 
you as unto children, " that ye would wdllz worthy of 
God who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory." 

Herein is generosity, that Christ stands patiently 
where the multitudes are passing by, to press upon their 
notice and acceptance the rich gifts of heaven's own 
treasure house. Herein is short-sighted folly, that men 
deign not a glance at the desirable riches, or push them 
scornfully aside to clutch greedily after glittering baubles 
and worthless gewgaws. 

While Peter the Great was winning his fame, there 
lived a beautiful peasant girl in one of the hamlets of 
Southwestern Kussia. There was war in the land and a 
battle was fought near her home. Pitiful but courageous, 
she went forth and ministered to the wounded soldiers 
where the bullets flew the thickest. The sight filled the 
Emperor with admiration, which further acquaintance 
deepened into love, and he called her to the throne of all 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



39 



the Eassias. Tlie nations tli rilled vvitli v/onder at tbe 
generous affection which transformed the village maiden 
into the Empress Catharine V. Much more let the 
nations thrill with wonder at the generous love of Christ 
for His clmrch. She bas no beauty of her own that He 
should desire her, and His sway is from sea to sea ; yet 
He calls the lowly maiden with all her lack of comeli- 
ness to share His royal throne, and presents her, fault- 
less, to His Father, as His loved and loving bride, " a 
glorious Church not having spot or v/rinkle or any such 
thing." The call that made Catharine Empress waa 
selfishly generous, while the call that makes us kings, 13 
free from sellishness and more than generous. It is 
loving in good truth. 

This call is gracious. "My delights were with the 
children of men," whether they love me or not. " Come 
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden." Stubborn 
wills may mock at the threatenings of Scripture, they 
may defy the Omnipotent to do His worst and calmly 
await the thunderbolt they have invoked. But who 
can stand unmoved by the tender call which casts aside 
warnings and promises, appealing only to the heart? 
Christ loves you. You are filthy with sin which He 
hates, you have done despite to His holy law, you have 
turned a deaf ear to His admonitions, you have cherished 
His enemies and hated His friends, you have with 
wicked hands crucified the Son of God, hut He loves you. 
You have trampled on His love but He loves you still, 
He would fold you to His bosom in the everlasting arms, 
and shield you from " the pestilence that walketh in 
darkness and from the arrow that flieth by day." 
Every imagination of the thoughts of your heart has 



40 



THE CALL OF WISDOM. 



been onlj evil continually, but His great liccirt yearns 
over you as a mothers over lier wayward boy. Hear 
Him speak, stretching out tlie arms of welcome, " My 
son, give me tliy Leart," "My son, be wise and make 
my lieart glad." 

How utterly impotent your small weak hearts are to 
give back an adequate return for such peerless love ! 
But do not let this hold you back from responding to 
His appeal. The tiniest dewdrop nestling in the coy 
violet, mirrors the dazzling sun just as perfectly 
as the mighty Ocean. Let your heart melt into 
a dewdrop, to flash back the bright image of the 
rising Sun of righteousness. You remember the story 
of how Bunyan asked his little daughter why everybody 
loved her. Her answer was " I don't know unless it's 
because I love everybody." If love begets love, how 
quickly you should respond to the loving call of 
"Wisdom. 

Finally, this call is urgent. "Doth not Wisdom cryt 
ye simple understand Wisdom, and ye fools be ye of 
an understanding heart." Plain language that. " He 
may run that readeth it." There is need of urgency in 
such a call. Men are so taken up with the whirl of 
pleasure and the rush of business, so absorbed in the 
race for wealth and fame, position and power, so " care- 
ful and troubled about many things," that he who would 
call their attention to the "one thing needful," must 
needs put a trumpet to their ears and thunder out, 
Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get Wisdom 
and with all thy gettings get understanding. for the 
voice of that Archangel whose trump shall one day 
wake the dead, to jnake dead sinners alive to the call of 



THE CALL OF WIS DO AT. 



41 



Wisdom ! " Hear, my son, and receive my sayings ; 
and the years of thy life shall be many. Take fast hold 
of instraction, let her not go, keep her ; for she is thy 
hfe. Get Wisdom, get understanding; forget it not, 
neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake 
her not and she shall preserve thee; love her and she 
shall keep thee. Exalt her and she shall promote thee ; 
she shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. 
She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace ; a 
crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." 

How many are willing to let go of the world and take 
fast hold of AYisdom to-day ? The call is urgent, to be 
sure, but it is also optional. If you see fit, you can 
reject the earnest overtures of Wisdom. Tliis call is, to 
you, like the variable quantity in mathematics, worth 
just what you will make it. Its value ranges all the 
way from zero to infinity. " Choose you this day whom 
ye will serve." As the aged Moses said to the Israelites, 
" I call heaven and earth to record, this day, against you 
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and 
cursing; therefore choose life that both thou and thy 
seed may live. That thou mayst love the Lord thy God 
and that thou mayst obey His. voice, and that thou 
mayst cleave unto Him." 

What more can be said ? You are famishing in a 
barren land for lack of the bread and water of life. You 
hear of a far country which " fioweth with milk and 
boney." The Lord of that country sends you an urgent 
invitation to come and live on " the fat of the land." 
He sends also horses and v^agons to bring you and your 
friends thither, provisions to sustain and attendants to 
guard you on the way. But he does not send his 



42 



THE CALL OF WISDOM, 



soldiers to bind jou hand and foot and bring you by 
force to occupy bis palace. Will you take yoai- journey ? 
From starvation to plenty, from poverty to abundance, from 
peril to safety, from false and fleeting joys to rivers of 
true pleasure, from unrest and fear and doubt and trouble, 
to rest and peace and trust and freedom ? Does not your 
heart cry out with Jacob of old when his doubts were 
scattered and his fears allayed at the sight of his son's 
great preparations for his coming down into Egypt, " It 
is enough ? " Let me beseech you, respond at once. 
" The night cometh." You are polluted and no pollu- 
tion shall dwell in that land of Beulah, but " the blood 
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin." Say 
therefore as did the tainted lepers in the camp before 
Samaria, " If we tarry till the morning light, some mis- 
chief will come upon us." Tarry not, but go to Him 
at once; He calls you. And let me offer for your 
devout meditation by the way these words of James, 
" The Wisdom that cometh from above is first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy 
and good fruits, without partiality and without hypoc- 
risy." 



III. 



FINISHED. 

*' It is finished."— Jb^n xix. 30. 

4 BED of great sickness is not a good place for re- 
_i\ flection upon the scenes and events of life. Such 
occupation calls for " a mind at leisure from itself" and a 
body so far from surfeit yet so much at ease that its own 
presence is not too obtrusive when eternal interests are 
made to be felt by the approach of death. A few strik- 
ing events start out in unnatural size to occupy the 
foreground of thought and cast all other facts in 
the shade. When the body is racked with pain and 
seems to be furnished with ten thousand exquisitely 
sensitive parts each producing a different kind of agony, 
it is next to impossible for the mind, even, if free from 
troubles of its own, to reason calmly and balance justly. 
Bat when both mind and body are intensely occupied 
with suffering, which is the keener for their mutual 
sympathy, how difficult is the task to recall and measure 
the deeds done in the body. Yet Jesus Christ on the 
cross was so truly the Son of Man as to feel all the 
mental and bodily torture of his condition, and so truly 
the Son of God as to grasp the full import of his past life 
and present situation. While his flesh was pierced, and 
his soul was wrung in the anguish of crucifixion, his mind 
unclouded, and free, traveled back over the weary journey 
of his career on earth, and farther through the ages of 

43 



44 



FINISHED, 



earthly and heavenly time, to the moment when ia 
Triune counsels, was planned the work of Kedemption. 
And as the years and cycles came up before him and his 
omniscient eye could detect neither blank nor blot, 
neither flaw nor failure, in all that survey, he declares 
the result as simply and briefly as if he were healing a 
leper or speaking a world into existence. "It is 
finished." 

Finished his busy life on earth, with its shame and 
sorrow, its winged words and example of goodness ; 
finished, the fleshly manifestations of infinite fatherly 
love ; finished, the burden of prophecy, with the entire 
Old Testament dispensation ; finished, the peculiar privi- 
lege and probation of Israel ; finished, the kingdom and 
power of darkness ; finished, the atonement for sin ; 
finished, the second Adam's perfect obedience; finished, 
the provision for future holiness of saints; finished, the 
glorious work of redemption ; all this, and more is 
included in the one word of the text, " It is finished." 

First, then, his earthly life was finished. In the ac- 
count of John it would seem as if having spoken this 
word, immediately the signal was given for the approach 
of death, which had no power over the Son of Man till 
be bowed his head in token of submission. But from 
the narrati ve of Luke we learn that he first addressed his 
Father asking Him to receive his spirit. If we consider 
this as his greeting to the new world of glory upon which 
he was entering, for the Son of Man had not j^et been in 
Heaven with his body, then we may fairly regard the 
text as his last farewell to earth. He will rise again to 
comfort and command his disciples but not as heretofore. 
Rather it will be as he appeared to Moses in the bush, 



FINISHED. 



45 



or to Joshua before Jericlio, or to Abraliam in tlie plain 
of Mamre. 

It is always felt as a great loss when the masters of 
speech lay down their sceptres in death. They spoke 
immortal words but themselves were made of clay. Even 
thus the voice that calmed the tempest and aroused the 
dead, is silent. Never man spake as this man, but this 
man speaks no more. His loving followers may visit the 
synagogues of Capernaum and Bethsaida but he who 
was wont to preach in them the acceptable year of the 
Lord is not to be heard ; they may climb the Mount of 
Beatitudes and linger in the courts of the Temple, but 
only the memory of his sermon or of his invitations will 
remain. No more shall they listen to his salutation of 
peace, or treasure up the pearls of wrisdom as they drop 
from his open lips. He did not strive nor cry nor lift up, 
nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets, and yet 
without him the streets and courts of Jerusalem are 
strangely quiet in the midst of tumult. There is a hush 
in their hearts which no clamor can invade and when 
they seek out the places where he loved to pray, the 
seclusion of Olivet, or the solitude of the mount that was 
apart, or the wilderness to the North of the Sea of 
Galilee, then a horrid silence surges around their senses 
and beats a sad refrain. Whether they tarry among the 
cities of Judah or flee to the desert from the strife of 
tongues ; whether they journey in hot haste from land to 
land to escape the edge of the sword, or enter into their 
chambers and shut their doors about them, to hide as it 
were for a little moment, until the rage of persecution be 
overpast, wherever they are, the last word of their dying 



46 



FINISHED, 



Lord must eclio mournfally in their loving ears, " It is 
finished." 

His Libors too are finished. This is the utterance of 
a mind overloaded and a frame overtaxed when the 
burden is taken ofi'; what was said of him at the close 
of creation miglit be repeated now. "He has ceased 
from his works and entered into rest.'' Not as at the 
first, for then he was not weary. Millions of worlds 
came into being, found their places in the ranks of the 
firmament, and took up their steady ceaseless march. 
Eound and round they went without jar or confusion, led 
and sustained by his almighty hand, which never tired of 
its office. He loosed tbe sweet influence of Pleiades and 
forged the bands of Orion. He brought forth Mazzaroth 
in his season and Arcturus with his sons. He stretched 
out the ISTorth over an empty place and filled up the 
chambers of the South, and when he stayed his arm it 
was not because he found tlie efibrt tiresome. Six days 
he labored and the seventh day he rested. Not because 
he needed rest, but that the seventh day might be for- 
ever hallowed to himself. " Hast thou not known, hast 
thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord, the 
creator of the ends of the earth faintetli not neither is 
weary ? " Yet he stoops under the weight of a cross 
and groans beneath tbe load of sin and sighs with relief 
when the work of salvation is finished. Thank God, 
they are finished ; the long journeys and the long 
delays; the thirty years of patient waiting and the three 
years of constant effort; the nights of watching and the 
days of toil, the exhaustive labors of incessant preaching, 
and the depressing strain created by violent and bitter 
opposition. Never again shall he sit thus on the well, 



FINISHED. 



47 



overcome with fatigue, nor slumber heavily on a steers- 
man's cushion. Never again shall his eager spirit push 
him on in advance of his disciples, to reach the goal and 
be eased of the load, nor drive him into the wilderness to 
be weakened with pangs of hunger and to be tempted 
witli devilish device. lie has wrought with clumsy tools 
at the carpenter's bench to earn an honest livelihood and 
these tools are dropped only to take up a harder task. 
He has been hewing with infinite drudgery and raising 
with painful effort, the timbers of a mighty ark wherein 
all flesh may find a refuge. But the last, joint is fitted, 
the last stroke is given and "It is finished." 

His sorrows, too, are over. He was a " man of sor- 
rows and acquainted with grief. " No ordinary amount 
of misery could be characterized in these terms. His 
must have been a sorrow transcending our knowledge as 
it does our experience, to need such intense description. 
What could have been the cause of so terrible a grief, 
a grief that marred his visage and disfigured his form 
more than any man ? " 

In all that relates to the deeper feelings of the heart, 
the poets have ever been held to reach and enshrine the 
truth. Their genius and sympathy give them an insight 
into the workings of the heart that is next to inspiration 
itself. One of them tells us that "a sorrow's crown of 
sorrow, is remembering happier things." Here is one 
cause for the Saviour's grief How often as He appealed 
in vain to a stiffnecked people must His thoughts have 
reverted to the legions of angels whose greatest joy lav in 
doing His lightest bidding. This feeling breaks forth 
more than once in his troubled life, but notably near the 
last when he called on his Father to restore him to that 



48 



FINISHED, 



glorj wliicli had been his portion before the world came 

between to make an almost total eclipse. Again an 
equally sorrowful fact was the unbelief in his Messiah- 
ship which met him at every turn. As another poet 
says : 

" Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these, it might have been." 

How well have Tennyson and Whittier caught the 
truth that breaks out in such pathetic way when Christ 
beheld the city and wept over it saying, "If thou hadst 
known," and again " How often would I have gathered 
thy children together, but ye would not." 

Then again his rejection by "his own." All the pre- 
vious history of Israel is a history of God's preparation 
of them to receive His Son. For this He had freed them 
from Egyptian bondage and miraculously fed, clothed, 
and led them in the wilderness. For this He had given 
them a rich land and blessed them with all temporal 
blessings. For this He had made them His own peculiar 
people, had adopted them and cherished them as His 
son. For this He had given them judges to deliver 
them, kings to rule over them, and prophets to teach 
them. For this He had chastened and punished them, 
had sold them into slavery and again redeemed them. 
God had lavished His love on them and His Son had the 
right to expect that they would be overjoyed to receive 
him that they migiit show their gratitude for their great 
blessings. 

It is said that tlie Lord Eldon was once engaged in a 
case in which his success depended on his being able to 



FINISHED. 



49 



sliow wlio had founded a certain chapel. A casual ex- 
aminatioD of the building gave no hint of its date or 
history. But he observed that the tables of the com- 
mandments had been inscribed on some old plaster which 
he thought might conceal an original opening. Upon 
removing some of the plaster he discovered the keystone 
of an arch on which were inscribed the arms of his 
client's ancestor, and so established his cause. So the 
Jews had inscribed on the exterior, " Holy to the Lord 
and to His Christ." But under the plaster of rites and 
ceremonies was cut the stamp of selfishness and insin- 
cerity. So wlien he came whose loving subjects they 
had professed to be they cut him to the heart by the 
basest ingratitude and most degrading rejection that 
history has ever recorded. Who can measure the sad- 
ness of those words, " He came unto his own and Ms 
own received Jiim not? " 

Further there was the gloomy shadow of the cross, in 
which he always walked. To this event more than to 
any other in the world's history is the line of Campbell 
appropriate, " And coming events cast their shadows 
before." Full well he knew that the revenge of his 
enemies should be complete. The wormwood and the 
gall of a shameful death were mingled with every cup he 
drank and grew more bitter as he drained the dregs of 
life. Time after time did he say to his disciples, " The 
Son of Man must be crucified." Add to all this his 
actual sufferings from poverty, trial, bruises, mockery, 
crucifixion, and we have causes enough for sorrow. Yet 
over against these must be set the causes he had for joy. 
"We read of times when he rejoiced in spirit, and for the 
whole series of his griefs we have the assurance of 
4 



FINISHED. 



inspiration that " for the joy set before him, he endured 
the cross and despisetl tiie shame." AVe must look 
farther then before we can allow the justice of his claim 
to be the man of sorrows. 

One other reason may be deai'lj outhned to our 
vision. It lias been well said that ''the suffering of his 
soul, formed the soul of his suffering." All that he suf- 
fered in body was as nothing. His greatest burden was 
tbe burden of our sins. " The Lord hath laid on him 
the iniquities of us all." Tlie mere C(mtact of sin, though 
it did not defile, or outwardly irritate, must have been 
loathsome and abhorrent to him. Su[>pose a woman pure 
and good, suddenly set down in the midst of vice and cor- 
ruption, such as may be found in the slums and dens of a 
great city. How overwhelming would be her sense of 
shame and how pitiable would be her misery. Yet the 
space between a Water Street harlot and a crystal pure 
maiden would be infinitely less than that between the 
maiden and the Holy, Harmless, Undefiled One, who was 
a companion of pubhcans and received sinners. But this 
is not all. Even more dreadful than this proximity of 
that abominable thing which God hates, was the sorrow 
to which the Saviour stooped when he bowed his shoulders 
to receive the full weight of the fierceness of the wrath 
of Almighty God, his own Father. This it was that 
ploughed his form, with long furrows and harrowed his 
gentle soul with suffering. . This is why he can challenge 
the earth to show grief that can compare with his. 
" Call, ye that pass by ; Behold and see if there be any 
sorrow like unto ray sorrow, which is done unto me, 
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his 
fierce anger." 



FINISHED, 



51 



But tkis is now a thing of tbe past. Never again 
shall he mingle with sinners or confess liis weakness to 
them. Never again shall he say to a troop of idola- 
ters, "I thirst," nor to a shameless woman, "Give me to 
drink; " for be has drunk of tbe brook in the way and 
quenched his thirst in the river of his Father's pleasures. 
Once for all, he has stretched his form upon the cross 
and shuddered in the cloud that hid his Father's face. 

The task of atonement for sin was taken up by him 
and carried steadily, painfully, unflinchingly forward, till 
the thick cloud of sin that overhung his cross no longer 
obscured the sky ; till the face of a reconciled Father 
shone down upon him and us, and then, then ! " It was 
finished." 

So also his example is finished. In doing the will of 
God for our salvation he was not unmindful of our need 
in this respect. What poor crooked sentences our ac- 
tions in life would spell out, if we had no pattern to 
copy ! Even as it is, we are too much like children, wlio 
copy after the next line above, instead of looking to the 
top. 

0! fools and blind, who scan your neighbors' lives so 
narrowly to imitate not their virtues, but their faults ; 
when will ye look to the alone model of life and seek to 
mould your ov/n lives after it ? " For we dare not make 
ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some 
that commend themselves, but they measuring them- 
selves by themselves and comparing themselves among 
themselves are not wise." Let us rather look to Jesus. 
His example is complete in every portion. We can 
safely imitate any part of it. All the fullness of the 



52 



FINISHED. 



Godhead dwelt in him to make for our example one per- 
fect pattern, and, " It is finislied." 

Again, there is finished the fleshly manifestations of 
Godlike love. This is implied in what has been said, 
but the thought is worthy of distinct enunciation. W e 
can never on earth, perhaps not in heaven, fathom. the 
depth of God's love for a world lying in sin. But in 
sending his Son, He gave the fullest possible revelation 
of that love, He tore away, as it were, the covering from 
the Eternal bosom and laid bare the very heart of the 
Godhead, that all might see its beating and note its lov- 
ing throbs. 

On the cross of Christ was completed the argument 
for the love of men to God, drawn from the love of God 
to men. No more convincing proof of God's yearning 
after our hearts will or can ever be given than this, 
*'that he spared not his own son but delivered him up 
for us all." If you are willing and wishing to believe 
on God, and become His child, but are waiting and wisli- 
ing for a token of His interest in you individually, reflect 
that He has already done His utmost in this direction. 

It only remains for you to take and apply to your own 
need what is offered so fi'eely to the needs of all. Come 
with boldness to the Father and plead the blood of His 
Son. Be not so foolish as to ask for a larger space in 
His thoughts, which already are so precious toward you 
that you can not measure, and so numerous that you 
can not count them. Look not for a more beautiful and 
fragrant flowering of His affection toward you for His 
good will has reached its culmination in the passion 
flower of Calvary, and a voice com.es from the cross of 
his well beloved Son, saying, *' It is finished." 



FINISHED. 



53 



Further the burden of prophecy is finished and with 
it, the old dispensation and the peculiar people lose their 
place. All things that were written in the law and the 
prophets concerniug him are finally and fully accom- 
plished. He came not to destroy but to fulfil and his 
mission is at length concluded. " All things," the lifting 
up and the scourging, the vinegar and the mockery, the 
casting of lots and the company of thieves, found their 
perfect fulfilment. The piercing spear was not far away, 
and the rich man's grave was near at hand. How many 
prophecies there were of Christ in his life and death ! It 
is said that more preintimations were given of the last 
twenty-four hours of our Saviour's life tlian of any other 
equal period in history, and of all that was spoken not one 
jot or tittle fell to the ground. But his whole life was 
a sequence of filled up prophecies. From the cradle to 
the grave his path had been marked out and every step 
he took in that painful journey was in its proper place. 

The old dispensation too, that labyrinth of types and 
shadows, tj^pical persons and typical places, typical vic- 
tims and typical times, is now abolished forever. Great 
has been the glory of Moses and the prophets in thus 
reflecting the light which fell faintly on them from 
heaven. But even as Moses put on a veil to conceal 
from the eyes of the people, the fact that his own face 
glowed less and less with the glory of Sinai, so has a 
veil been over the hearts of the people in reading the 
law and the prophets. This veil is rent by the dying 
Eedeemer, so that all can look within, and lo 1 the name 
of "Ichabod " is written above the ark and in the tem- 
ple, for the glory of Israel has departed. 

The death of Christ has swept away the peculiar priv- 
ileges of dispensation and people together. They who 



54 



FINISHEiy. 



were once Lis peculiar treasure, above all people, reject 
with hate and scorn the message of his covenant and 
they are henceforth rejected of Him. He canie to his 
own because he was seut to the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel. But they received him not, and therefore the 
middle wall of partition is broken down and Gentiles 
may come to his light and kings to the brightness oi' his 
rising. The Jewish people have filled np the measure 
of their iniquity, "The sin of Judali is written with a 
pen of iron and with the point of a diamond." 

They knew not the dny of their merciful visitation, 
and of their probation as a people it may fairly be said, 
'* It is finished." 

Once more, the kingdom and power of darkness are 
finished. Tlie reign of terror is over. When the united 
powers of death and hell broke their lances in his quiv- 
ering body, ere the last breath was drawn apparently in 
utter failure, he spoke the words that announced the 
final defeat and overthrow of all his foes, " It is finished." 

"0 death, where is thy sting, grave, where is thy 
victory? " Yery beautiful are the words of Dr. Hanna, 
" Contemplate him, the one and only instance which this 
world has witnessed of the last enemy, death, being 
fairly met, met in his own territorj^, triumphed over in 
his own domain, by the use of his own weapons. That 
grim inexorable tyrant wealth has never bribed, tears 
have never softened, beauty has never moved as he made 
his unfaltering approach and struck his unerring blow. 

Two only out of the many millions of our race, two in 
olden times, were snatched away before the stroke of the 
destroyer came upon tliem, and passed away without 
tasting death. But the translation of Enoch and Elijah 
was no victory over death ; they never met, they never 



FINISHED. 



55 



grappled with tliis foe. Thej were withdrawn from the 
battlefield before the daj^ of conflict came. 

One alone of human form ever grappled with that 
strong wrestler, death, and cast him from liim overcome. 
His way to conquest lay through brief submission. 

Like others he descended into the dark and dreary 
prison house. The grave opened to receive him. He 
seemed to have passed away as the multitudes who had 
gone befoi'e. But dealh and the grave never received, 
such a visitant into their silent and vast domains. He 
approached the throne of the tyrant to wrench the scep- 
tre of empire from his hand. In bursting as he did the 
barriers of the grave it was no mere respite that he ob- 
tained for himseli' but a full and final victory." And so 
concerning all the vaunted power of Satan, sin and 
death the fiat of Omnipotence spoke from the cross of 
Calvary, " It is finished." 

In short, the whole glorious work of Eedemption, of 
transforniing a thorn-cursed earth into the abode of right- 
eousness, and fallen abject man, into a child of God is 
fully and forever finished. In view of this fact what 
shall we do brethren? Bonfires, processions, delirium of 
joy? Sweat and groan to add a few bricks or stones to 
the finished pile? Folly! Earn our own salvation? Do 
something to merit heaven ? or do as well as we can and 
expect salvation for that? ISTo, that work is finished, we 
can add nothing. What, then ? Surely we are not to sit 
tamely and make no sign to show our appreciation of 
the tremendous task that belonged to us, but to which 
we need not lift a finger. What is the moral of the 
story of the cross? What conoern have we in it? What 
is our immediate connection with the finished work of 
Christ? This, only believe, only helieve. ONLY BELIEVE. 



IV. 



PKISONEES OF HOPE. 

" Tnrn you to tlie stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day 
do I declare that I will reuder double unto thee." — Zech. ix. 12. 

"TXT" HEN the armies of old times were defeated in 
ft the field, it was usual for the fragments to take 
refuge in the walled towns. Hither also came the in- 
habitants, abandoning their lands and houses to the 
ravages of the enemy. If city after city was taken and 
the whole country lay at the mercy of the conqueror, 
then the brave remnant, whose coui'age was invincible, 
would shut themselves up with what arms and provi- 
sions they could secure, in the strongest and most inacces- 
sible fortress that remained to them, there to abide the 
result of a siege, or to watch for the opportune moment 
when the invader, made careless by victory, should ex- 
pose himself to their vengeance. This was the condition 
of Israel at the time contemplated in the text. 

There is no difficulty in settling what time is meant, 
for the ninth verse of this chapter is expressly referred to 
by Matthew, as written of Christ. \Yhen he came 
riding into Jerusalem as its meek and lowly king, the 
Jews had been driven from their vantage ground, as 
God's peculiar people, and were reduced almost to the 
last extremity. The sceptre was slipping from tlie 
feeble grasp of Judah and his lawgivers were fast becom- 
ing slaves. It was high time for them to seek out some 

56 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



5/ 



impregnable strongliold and to such action thej were 
summoned by the voices of the past as well as by the 
troubles of tbe present. Was it not strange that none of 
those who cried, Hosanna to the Son of David, under- 
stood that this meek and lowly Prince of Peace carried 
their salvation with him? That his dominion was from 
sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth? 
And further that their deliverance from Roman as from 
Grecian power, was to be only " by the blood of the 
covenant ? " 

If we wonder at their blindness let "us avoid their 
error. This word of prophecy is addressed to us just as 
truly as it was to them. Let us read the whole passage 
that we may the better appreciate its beauty and truth. 
" Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout O daughter 
of Jerusalem ; behold thy king cometh unto thee; he is 
just and having salvation ; lowly and riding upon an ass, 
and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off 
the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, 
and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak 
peace unto the heathen (i. e., the nations) and his domin- 
ion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even 
to the ends of the earth. As for thee also (i. e. Judah) 
by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy 
prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you 
to the stronghold ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do 
I declare that I will render double unto thee." In the 
last verse read, we have a command laid upon certain in- 
dividuals and enforced by a jn^omise instead of a penalty. 
Let us consider the persons addressed, the precept given 
and the promise annexed. 

It is somewhat curious that the persons who are told 



38 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



to betake themselves to tlie strongliold are already priso- 
ners, as we see by the eleventh verse. They are con- 
fined in a pit wherein is no water. There is no doubt a 
reference here to the hapless condition of Joseph, when 
his brethren conspired against his life, and cast him into 
an empt}^ pit. Now if Eeuben, who was anxious to save 
his brother's life, had gone stealthily to the edge of the 
pit while the rest were eating, and had called out to 
Joseph as he lay bound in the bottom, to save himself 
by flight from tlie danger he was in, would not the 
sarcasm of Reuben have been harder to bear than the 
cruelty of Simeon or Levi? And in what is the sinner's 
condition better than tliat of Joseph? Pie is deeply sunk 
in the pit of misery and strongly bound by the cords of 
sin. Yet the voice of warning comes to his ears, " Turn 
to the stronghold, ! prisoner." What strongliold ? He 
is in a stronghold now. The fatal grasp of Satan is upon 
him and how shall he overcome this "strong man 
armed? " He cannot do it. Dear friends, have you not 
felt your own weakness when you have tried to over- 
come one single evil habit? How then shall the whole 
tendency of your nature be changed? It is true of the 
unconverted man that he is a prisoner. Sin is his 
gloomy dungeon and Satan is his cruel jailer. He may 
strive mightily to free himself, but his chains will only 
gall tlie deeper and clank the louder for all his struggles. 
Of wliat use is it then that an angel of light should come 
on swift wing to sa_f as one did to Lot, " Escape for thy 
life ? " The sinner is not simply dwelling in Sodom, but 
he is chained down there as in a vessel of wrath, and can 
not move hand or feet, while the fire is kindling beneath 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



59 



hini and the sulphurous clouds are gathering overhead. 
How saj ye to his soul, 

*'Flee as a bird to your mountain, 
Thou tliat art wear}'^ of sin." 

The case of such an one is hard and bitter but not 
quite desperate. There is always a possibility while life 
remains that some other force or influence may intervene 
for his deliverance. When every frantic attempt at 
escape has only sunk him deeper in the mire of corrup- 
tion, and he gives over his efforts, crying, " Lord save 
me, I perish," then it is that his salvation is nearer than 
he supposed. When he is most thoroughly convinced of 
his own helplessness, then he is the fittest subject for 
help from above. So it comes to pass that when nearest 
despair he is nearest hope, and when he is weak then he 
is strong. Let us suppose that among the jails in the 
country there was one stronger, dai'ker and with harder 
fare than all the rest, and yet from which, large numbers 
of prisoners yearly made good their escape. Such a 
prison house would be the Mecca of criminals. They 
would steal and kill, so to speak, with their faces toward 
it. And those who were received into its cells would not 
appear like ordinary criminals with downcast face and 
sullen manners. They would all be prisoners of hope. 
Thus it is with a world lying in the wicked one. The 
pit into which sinners are plunged is dark and deep ; its 
walls cannot be scaled ; its gloom cannot be measured, 
but it is a pit without water and so the wretched cap- 
tives are not at once destroyed. They can exist for a 
little space and meanwhile there is abroad in the land a 



6o 



PRISOA'ERS OF HOPE. 



Conqueror and Deliverer — one traveling in the greatness 
of his strength, whose appointed mission it is to say to 
the prisoners : " Go forth " and to them that are in dark- 
ness : " Show yourselves." " Thus saith the Lord, even 
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the 
prey of the terrible shall be delivered." This is the 
stronghold to which you are commanded to torn your- 
selves in the day of sore trouble — 

"The voice of free grace cries escape to tlie mountains. 
For Adam's lost race Chi-ist hath opened a fountain ; 
For sin and uncleanness and every transgression, 
His blood flows freely in streams of salvation. 
Now Jesus our king reigns triumphantly glorious, 
Over sin, death and hell he is more than victorious. 
With shouting proclaim it, O trust in his passion, 
He saves us most freely; O glorious salvation." 

But how shall the dwellers in darkness and the shadow 
of death, make known their need to the Lord of light 
and life? The metaphor allows but one way of seeking 
the Lord while he may be found, and that is, to call 
upon him while he is near. And he is not far from 
every one of us. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. There- 
fore lift up your eyes and voice to the hills from whence 
your help cometh. He is quick to hear and prompt to 
answer such an appeal. He will incline to hear your 
cry and will take you up from the horrible pit and the 
miry clay and will set your feet upon a rock that is a 
stronghold more safe and sure than Gibraltar. The 
whole story of distress and desolation and entreaty and 
groping and hope and trust is told in burning words by 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



6i 



David as lie lies panting and praying in the cave of 
Adullam : 

" To God my earnest voice I raise ; 
To God my voice imploring prays. 
Before his face I pour my tears 
And tell my sorrows in his ears. 
All unprotected lo, I stand, 
No friendly guardian at my hand, 
No place of flight or refuge near 
And none to whom my soul is dear.'* 

O Lord my Saviour now to thee. 
Without a hope besides I flee 
To thee my refuge from the strife 
My portion in the land of life. 
Then hear and heed my fervent cry 
For low with burning griefs I lie. 
Against my foes thy arm display, 
For I am weak but strong are they," 

Do you long for such an experience of God's mercy 
and do you fear that you cannot make it your own, 
because David was a great saint while you are a great 
sinner ? How did David become a great saint ? It was 
just simply by trusting in God. If you trust him as 
David did you will praise him as David did. The Lord 
is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he 
knoweth them that trust in Him. It is His own voice 
that bids you trust — the same voice that said to the 
palsied man : " Arise and walk," that said to the leprous 
man: "Be thou clean;" that said to the dead man: 
"Lazarus, come forth." Will you be more disobedient 
than palsy or leprosy or death itself? When he who is 



62 



PRISOiXERS OF HOPE, 



called by Micali " The Tower of the flock, the Strong- 
hold of the daughter of ZioD," flings open the door of 
access to himself, saying, " Loose thj^self from the bands 
of thy neck, captive daughter of Zion," can you be 
reckless of danger and heedless of 3^our refuge ? It must 
not, it shall not be. 

By the meniory of the bleeding victim wliom wicked 
men slew and hanged on a tree, I beseech you not to 
crucify the Son of God afresh. By the love you bear to 
your own bodies and the interest you have in your own 
souls I adjure you not to lie supinely on yonr backs, 
bugging jour chains, in the pit of corruption ; wliile free- 
dom and safety and happiness can be achieved in one 
fervent cry for help, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
Let that prayer once come from the bottom of your 
heart and though your case \vere a thousand fold wonse 
than that of imprisoned Peter, and though you were 
fettered in the lowest prison pit of Satan, with a flend 
fastened on either side and four quaternions of devils to 
keep the watch, the Angel of his presence would smite 
your jailers dumb, and bring you past watch and ward 
to the open air and blessed light of liberty. 

But this is not all. When the angel had led bcwild» 
ered Peter one block beyond the prison, he forthwith 
departed and left him to work out the rest of his own 
deliverance with fear and trembling, and when he had 
considered the matter he went straight to the stronghold 
from whence his rescue came, that is, to the house of 
Mary, the mother of Mark, where many were gathered 
together, praying for him. Let his conduct be your 
model, when the mercy of God has struck the shackles 
from your souls and led you forth from the bondage of 



PRISONERS OF HOPE, 



63 



corruption into the glorious libert}?- of tlie children of 
God. "Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of 
hope." Approach, enter, abide. Approach with rever- 
ent boldness, enter with holy confidence, abide with 
grateful praise. Approach, for it is written: "Him 
that Cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Entei', 
for: "So an entrance shall bo ministei-ed unto you 
abundantly." Abide, for : " Him that overcometh will 
I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall 
go no more out." 

As thus explained the text would urge the captives of 
sin to flee to the strong] 1 old of salvation on the ground 
of tbe danger there is in remaining. And in develop- 
ing the thought I have taken it for granted that if you 
realized the danger, you would respond to the call. 
Bat it sometimes happens that men are foolish enough 
to adopt the line of argument that in struggling to get 
out of the slough of despond one only sinks the deeper, 
or in exchanging masters, suffei's from a greater tyrant, 
or in adopting a severe course of treatment, finds the 
remedy worse than the disease. In the ]:)resent case we 
are not left to a possible conjecture of better times and a 
foi-lorn hope of improved circumstances, for the text 
having opened with a note of warning closes with a com- 
forting assurance. " Even to-day do I declare that I 
will render double unto thee." This promise is trust- 
worthy in its character, magnificent in its extent, immed- 
iate in its fulfilment, and individual in its application. 
It is trustworthy, for it comes from a covenant keeping 
God. It is a most solemn asseveration on His part " Thus 
saith the Lord : I declare that I will render double unto 
thee." 



64 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



Charles I. of England was born a king wbose readiness 
in giving pledges was equalled only by liis impudence in 
breaking them. Again and again did he break faith 
with his people, his parliament and his ministers, till his 
word became as httle worth as that of tlie scurv'.' st 
knave in the realm. And yet he kept his throne and 
head securely for years of perjury and plunder, simply 
because he was king and according to the proverb, "the 
king could do no wrong." That proverb is a noble ex- 
pression of the universal faith that the ruler of a nation 
should be a model of truth and purity. " He that ruleth 
over men should be just, ruling in the fear of God." 
And why? Because earthly rule is a shadow of the 
heavenly, and the voice of the King of kings should find 
its echo in the mouth of every lesser potentate. That 
the shadow is distorted and the echo imperfect, does not 
prove the substance so. Kather the righteous indigna- 
tion that at length lifted the head from the shoulders of 
Charles was an assertion, directly, that the king who did 
wrong in spite of his crown was not worthy of it, and, 
conversely, that the King who always was and ever will 
be Governor among the nations, is true and righteous 
altogether. Fear not then to take refuge in Jesus Christ, 
that mighty stronghold. 

The history of nations and the word of God alike warn. 
" Put not your trust in princes nor lean upon an arm of 
flesh.'' But the word of God and the experience of men 
also tell us of the faithfulness of God. As Luther puts it : 

A mighty fortress is our God, 

A bulwark never failing, 
Our helper He amid the flood, 

Of mortal ills prevailing." 



PRISONERS OF HOPE. 



65 



As for the magnificence of tliis promise I read : " He 
will render doable." What this means may be gathered 
from a reference to other passages. " Comfort ye, com- 
fort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfort- 
ably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is 
accomplished: for she hath received of the Lord's hands 
double for all her sins." And again, " For your shame 
ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice 
in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall 
possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them." 
So the joy of the saved shall be twice as great as their 
grief has been. Paradise is more than restored, for to the 
possession of perfect bliss shall be added the memory of 
sin pardoned, sorrow laid aside, and death overcome. 
Even as it was with Job whose possessions were swepb 
away in the trial of his patience and faith, but to whom 
they were restored in double measure — twice as much as 
he had before. So the Lord blessed the latter end of 
Job more than his beginning. Let us count it as joy 
when we fall into divers temptations. The heavier the 
cross, the brighter the crown. The harder the battle, 
the more glorious the triumph. 

Further, that triumph is ours, even now and here. It 
is want of faith in God's promise that makes life so dark 
and hard. We ought to be just as sure of victory when 
rolled in the smoke of the battle-field as when from the 
height of the last day we shall see the enemy routed in 
eternal confusion. 

At the battle of Bautzen, Napoleon was behind an 
earthwork overlooking the town when he heard the guns 
of Marshal ISTey whom he had sent around to take the 
enemy in flank. Immediately after, a shell from the 
5 



66 



PRISONERS OF HOPE, 



enemy burst just over his head; "but without paying any 
attention to this, he sat down and wrote to his wife that 
the battle was gained. So soon as he knew that his 
favorite general had reached the critical point he was 
confident of victory. Why then should we doubt the 
issue or tremble when some new trouble bursts over our 
head, since the crisis of our conflict was reached on 
Calvary by the Captain uf our salvation? Marshal Key 
may have been the bravest of the brave, but Jesus Christ 
is the Lord of Sabaoth and God of battles. When he 
says, "Even to-day do I declare that I will render 
double," we who believe his word are as sure of our 
reward as if we lay in Abraham's bosom. 

Finally, the application of this promise is not alone 
to Pauls and Stephens, who tire full of faith and of the 
Holy Ghost, not only to confessors and martyrs, not sim- 
ply to the ch ui-ch at large, but it is " unto thee." Is it not 
a wonderful mark of discriminating love that the singular 
number is used here ? Tiie prisoners are exhorted in a 
body to flee to the stronghold but they are not received in 
a herd nor blessed in the Inmp. In our Father's house 
there are many mansions and there is room for all, a home 
for each. New York's railroad king may disburse a 
hundred thousand dollars to his loyal men and at first 
it seems to be a large sum, but when you divide it 
among twelve thousand employees — how it dwindles! 
But God gives the whole of his treasure to every one 
that believes. It is man's way to give grudgingly in 
small quantities that grow still smaller before they reach 
their object; it is God's way to take a few loaves and 
multiply them a thousand fold for the need of His 
hungry children. He who sent a special message to 



PJilSONEJiS OF HOPE. 



67 



Peter on the resurrection morning, sends a special mes- 
sage to each of you, and His message is: " Turn you to 
the stronghold ye prisoners of hope. Even to-day do I 
declare that I will render doable unto thee." 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



" He shall be great in the sight of the Lord."— ZwA:^. i. 15. 

THE acme of greatness, tlie flood mark of humanity, 
for the space of four thousand years, is personified 
in John tbe Baptist. Ezekiel singled out Noah, Job and 
Daniel, as preeminently "great in the sight of the 
Lord." Moses, Abraham and Solomon are handed down 
to us as special types respectively of meekness, faith and 
splendor ; David appears as the very king of poets and 
piety, Isaiah, as the essence and spirit of prophecy, and 
Elijah, as the very master of nature. All these are 
names of men mighty in word and deed, before the 
Lord. They are names to conjure with, and as such, 
are used by the inspired writer in his fervid appeal to 
the Hebrews. But a deeper spell than theirs, is wrought 
upon devout and discriminating minds at the mention of 
the son of Zacharias. For he has the testimony not of 
a Prophet or Apostle oulj^, weighty as such testimony 
is, but in addition to this, he has that of an angel com- 
missioned for this very purpose and even of Deity itself, 
in each person of the adorable Trinity. He was great in 
the sight or estimation of God the Father; he had the 
constant witness of the Spirit, for he was filled with the 
Holy Ghost from his birth ; and the Son of God ex- 
pressly declared of him that among men born of women, 
there had not risen a greater than he. 
68 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



69 



Men are very much in the habit of attaching the ad- 
jective "great" to their favorite heroes, and sometimes 
the title is appropriate, but not less often perhaps, it is 
altogether misapplied. Was Alexander great^ wlio 
lived in butchery and died in drunkenness? Was 
Pompey great^ wlio overcame a few armies of such sol- 
diers as moved the contempt of Caesar? Was the four- 
teenth Lewis great ^ whose generals won all his battles 
and whose ministers supplied all his statecraft? Even 
impostors and lunatics have not been lacking for wor- 
shippers. Many a muezzin lifts up his voice daily to 
cry, " There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his 
prophet," and there was recently published a life of 
Swedenborg, in the preface of which, his biographer 
does not hesitate to pronounce him the most gifted and 
extraordinary man that ever lived. Such testimony 
needs a good many grains of salt to make it palatable to 
honest and thoughtful minds, but there are cases in 
which new lustre is added to shining names by the well 
considered testimony of biographers. It is enough to 
mention the lives of Scott and Chalmers by their sons- 
in-law, and that of Arnold by the Dean of Westminster, 
and that of Hamilton by Arnott. Great men speak for 
great men in these volumes, and great is their glorying 
of them. Now if we receive with respect the witness of 
Lockhart and Hanna and Stanley and Arnott, yet the 
witness of God is greater. Surely then it is worth our 
while to inquire wherein consisted the greatness of that 
individual on wliom the best of judges "pronounced the 
most splendid eulogy ever breathed over mortal man." 

John the Baptist was great because he was chosen to 
be the hinge on which the church of the living God 



70 



JOHX THE GREAT. 



swung round from the old to the new dispensation. In 
all tin:ie there has been but one church. The same 
household of faith that exists at present, ^Yas in exis- 
tence when Abraham came out of Ur, and when Xoah 
came out of the ark, and when Adam came out of the 
garden. The bondage of Egypt did not destroy it and it 
issued from the Babylonian captivity, as the three holy 
children came forth from the Babylonian furnace, with- 
out an\^ trace of the withering flame to which it had 
been subjected. Neither did the coming of the Son of 
Man change its nature, for he came not to destroy but to 
fulfil. Well therefore did Luther respond to the taunt 
of his opponent, who asked him where his church was 
before the reformation. Said the great reformer, 
"Where was your face this morning before yon washed 
it? " But although the church remains the same in all 
ages it presents a somewhat different appearance to 
hnman eyes at different epochs in its history. As the 
child of days is with difSculty recognized in the man of 
mature years, so the church without losing its indentity 
developed from its primeval dispensation through the 
patriarchal, and the priestly, to its maturity under the 
name of Christian. Of all these changes, by far the 
greatest was ushered in, when for a second time the 
morning stars sang together and all the Sons of Gi-od 
shouted for joy at the birth in Bethlehem of Him whose 
name and authority are stamped indelibly upon the 
Church as it now stands. 

As the change from the Old Testament to the New, 
was greater than the change from the captivity of 
Egypt or of Babylon, so the priest of this change was of 
more importance. The forerunner of Jesus occupies a 



jdHN THE GREAT. 



71 



loftier position therefore, than Moses, the Mediator of 
Sinai, or Zerubabel, the restorer of the temple. He is 
'the messenger who immediately precedes the Prince to 
announce his coming, and as such, holds a higher office 
than those who are distant types and faint shadows 
of good things to come. He is the friend of the royal 
Bridegroom whose heart thrills at the sound of the 
Bridegroom's voice, and as such, is brought into closer 
relationship than they of old time, with him whose near- 
ness is the measure of every believer's glory. Abraham 
caught afar off* a glimpse of Christ's day and was glad. 
Moses gloried in the revelation of a prophet to be raised 
up unto Israel, like unto himself. But how small a 
blessing was theirs compared to that of him who could 
see the heavens divide and the Celestial Dove descend 
upon God's Anointed ; who could raise a hand that was 
counted worthy, not merely to loose the sandal from the 
foot of Messiah, but even to pour baptismal water upon 
his head ; could raise that hand in gesture still more 
solemn and significant, and point him out to a sin-cursed 
earth, as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
the world? Had the old Priest of the course of Abiah 
lived to visit the bank of the Jordan on that day, amaze- 
ment would have repeated the work of unbelief and 
stricken him dumb once more, at the steadfastness with 
which the word spoken by angels was kept after th^ 
lapse of so many years. " He shall be great in the sight 
of the Lord." 

Again John the Baptist was great alike as master and 
as servant. For a brief period he held absolute control 
of the minds of men. He possessed in an eminent de^ 
gree what multitudes have longed for, and but few have 



72 



JOHN THE GREAT, 



ever attained, the magic power of words to rouse and 
sway the feelings of vast audiences. His method was 
simple and direct. He held in front of liim the torch of 
truth whose rays both lighted the darkest hearts be- 
fore him and scorched the baseness which their light re- 
vealed. Yet no one could resent bis close and plain deal- 
ing, for the truth, and not the speaker was in the thoughts 
of those who looked and listened. As well might they 
quarrel with the sun for scattering the shades of night, 
or with their conscience for condemning the wrong, and 
approving the good, as to be angry with the burning and 
shining lights that showed them their need of repentance, 
and the warning voice that echoed through the wilder- 
ness of their neglected souls. 

The people were willing for a season to rejoice in his 
light, and the worst of them, even Herod, did many 
things because of him, and heard him gladly. Whence 
came this marv^elous influence that brought the stubborn 
soldiers, haughty Pharisees, sceptical Sadducees, infam- 
ous publicans and the indiscriminate rabble to the wild- 
erness of Jordan confessing their sins and promising to 
forsake them ? It came to John as the sure result of 
his many years of deep thought, of fervent prayer, of 
manful struggle, and of resolute self-mortification in the 
desert with wild beasts for his only companions, their 
skins for his scanty raiment, locusts and wild honey 
for his meager fare, and the Holy Spirit for his helper. 
When he came like a meteor, brilliant and brief, across 
the firmament of Judean life, he came as the ruler of his 
own spirit, whose greatness was truer and more perma- 
nent than that of Cyrus or JSTebuchadnezzar, or of any 
conqueror whose greatest boast is only that he has taken 



JOHN THE GREAT, 



73 



a city or enslaved a nation. Ye men of Judali and in- 
habitants of Jerusalem, j^e men of every time, and in- 
habitants of every country, withhold not your homage 
from the preacber of repentance. It well befits the 
Master of himself, to exercise authority over others. 
Bear his reproofs with all meekness. Keceive his bap- 
tism with all sincerity and stand ready to press with ail 
your might into the coming Kingdom. 

The character of John appears equally great when the 
splendor of his name grew pale, and the ranks of his dis- 
ciples became tbin at the approach of a greater than he. 
The test of greatness is submissiveness. The greatest of 
all that ever bore the human form was not ashamed to be 
the servant of all, and no small degree of this kind of 
grandeur belongs to the man who saw his popularity de- 
part, without a sigh, his followers leave him, without a 
regret, and his cousin preferred before him, without one 
pang of jealousy. Nowhere among the words of mortal 
men, do we find language breathing a purer or more de- 
voted spirit of magnanimity, than that which exhales from 
John's reply when some of his zealous supporters com- 
plained to him of the throngs that followed Christ and 
hung breathless upon the new Teacher's lips, even as a 
little before, they had thronged to his own preaching. 
John answered and said ; "A man can receive nothing 
except it be given him from Heaven. He must increase 
but I must decrease. This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled." 
Not Moses praying that the children of Israel may be 
spared and himself blotted from tlie Book of Life, not 
Paul willing to be accursed from Christ for the sake of 
his brethren, rises to such a pitch of greatness as this. 
How sublime is that joy which is fulfilled, — filled to the 



74 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



brim, at being only tlie bridegroom's friend, and hearing 
Lis voice of tenderness addressed to another. Truly this 
man was great, great even in the sight of the Lord, trans- 
cendently great in the sight of men. 

Again, John the Baptist was great alike as scholar 
and as teacher. He studied his lessons with no human 
classmate and under no human teacher. Yet his mis- 
sion was to be discharged amid crowded throngs, and de- 
manded a knowledge of the human heart in all its com- 
plex working. Was the desert a proper school to fur- 
nish such knowledge as this? Yet his lesson was 
learned so well that high and low, good and bad, old and 
young, were spell-bound and self-convicted under his 
teaching. He was ready with instruction and warning 
for men in every phase and condition of life. No mere 
gift of genius could accomplish this, how then did a 
lonely student deprived of books and of intercourse with 
men learn so correctly what was in man ? The secret of 
it all lay in his thorough self-examination. The knowl- 
edge of one heart is the knowledge of all hearts. It was 
because John had the courage and fidelity to enter the 
closet of his own soul, and carry what he found there to 
God in penitence and prayer, that he possessed the key to 
unlock other hearts. And not John alone but every 
scholar who would benefit humanity must come to men 
with such a yearning cry as this, " Brethren, I beseech 
you — be as I am for I am as you are.'" Without this 
humbling self-knowledge, a man may graduate from 
school, college, and seminary in vain, but with it and 
naught else, the diligent scholar of a twenty years' course 
in the desert became great in the sight of the Lord to 
lay bare the hearts of men. It is one thing to learn a 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



75 



lesson tlioroaglily, but a different thing to convey the 
knowledge thus gained to the minds of others. Yet 
John, the great Scliohii-, became John, the Great Teacher. 

In the ancient Pagan world, amid a glittering galaxy 
of stars, perhaps Socrates was the star of greatest magni- 
tude as a scholar. But Socrates as a teacher stands con- 
fessed a total failure. lie could with ease establish 
his proposition, he could force the unwilling mind of a 
pupil til rough the labyrinth of argument to the desired 
conclusion, but the moment his back was turned, the 
pupil's mind broke away from the trammels of harsh, 
logic and the only result of his pearls scattered freely 
before the swine of his generation, was to make them 
" turn again and rend him," Socrates lived before his 
time, — it is said. So did Galileo, So did John IIuss. 
So did John Brown. So did not John the Baptist. 
Not that he was less in advance of the age in which 
he lived, than other reformers, but that he found his 
exact place and fitted to it. He did his work perfectly, 
which was simply to make his bow, arrest the attention 
of a mighty audience, and introduce to them the coming 
man. His words were like apples of gold in baskets of 
silver, because they were fitly spoken. Not that he, 
more than others, could escape martyrdom, but that he, 
more than they, finished the work that was given him 
to do. The meteor that blazes out brightly and then 
fades from the sky, is made a symbol of evanescence 
and incompleteness. Yet in the sight of its mistress, 
nature, the glory of the meteor is neither transient nor 
incomplete. It lasts just long enough to do its appointed 
duty. More than this cannot be said of the sun. So 
John the Baptist lived and preached long enough to do 



76 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



his whole duty, and when his gory head was delivered 
over to the will of a sljameless dancing girl, when as 
tradition says, his headless trunk was flung over the 
])rison battlements, for dogs and vultures to devour, his 
appointed mission was rounded and complete. And 
though belittled in the sight of wicked men, "He was 
great in the sight of the Lord." 

John the Baptist was great alike in prosperity and ad- 
versity. When his ministry was attended by thousands 
and the thoughts of many were being revealed by his 
"intensely practical and painfully heart-searching elo- 
quence," he was neither puffed up by flattery, nor turned 
aside from his simplicity of speech. His words were as 
rude as his raiment, as plain as his daily fare. He 
rebuked greedy tax-gatherers for their exactions, he 
forbade rough soldiers to be lawless or discontented. He 
called the proud aristocracy a generation of vipers, and 
he told the boasters of Jewish blood, that the very 
stones under their feet were as likely as themselves to be 
called children of Abraham. Nay ! when summoned 
to be court preacher to Herod the tetrarch, his language 
abated nothing of its wonted tone. He said bluntly to the 
monarch, whose word was life or death to him, " It is 
not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." 

That this was not arrogance on his part, is shown by 
his behavior to Jesus. Had he been at all flushed with 
the popular applause, he would have received the Mes- 
siah as his disciple without hesitation, and baptized him 
as a matter of course. Instead of this, he shrank timidly 
back from such high honor, and confessed promptly what 
was plain to his piercing eye, that Jesus was holier and 
mightier than he. His message and baptism were for 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



77 



sinners, whether in rags or in gaj^ clothing, but when the 
Sinless Oiie appears, he abdicated his authority in full 
view of his own disciples, to sit at the feet of Jesus and 
meekly learn of him. In this he was great, but this is 
not all. He is wilKng even to violate his deeply-felt 
sense of the fitness of things, and to proceed with what 
cannot but seem to him an unmeaning and useless rite, 
simply because the Master says : " Suffer it to be so." 
He will stultify himself, if need be, at the command of 
Christ, in sublime confidence that this is a safer guide 
than his own reason or intuition, according as it is writ- 
ten, " Yea let God be true but every man a bar.'' 

It is such self- obliteration as this, that makes John, or 
Paul or Daniel, or any other person, great in the sight of 
the Lord. Some men are great in the day of triumph but 
weak and small in disaster. The truly great man must 
be not only simple in af&ueiice and humble in success, 
but majestic in affliction and indomitable in failure. 
This was, in part, the basis of Coligni's claim to great- 
ness. "In one respect," said he, "I may claim superior- 
ity over Alexander, over Scipio, over Csesar. They won 
great battles, it is true. I have lost four great battles ; 
and yet I show to the enemy a more formidable front 
than ever." 

John was a light that burned with intense heat and 
shone with a bright glow in the gloomy night of im- 
prisonment and death. Of the few brief notices which 
the sacred chronicle gives of him, the most touching and 
remarkable is that in which he is represented as calling 
two of his disciples whose devotion to him was not les- 
sened by the desertion of others, nor shaken by the dan- 
gers they must incur around him^ and sending them to 



78 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



ask of Jesus, whose miglitj works were reported to him 
in prison, if he were indeed the coming Messiah. The 
tone of this question is one of doubt and sadness, nor was 
it strange that he should be in the slough of despond. 

As Farrar says, " To a rugged, passionate, untamed 
spirit like that of John, a prison was worse than death. 
He seemed to be neglected not only by God above but 
by the living Son of God on earth. John was pining in 
Herod's prison, while Jesus m the glad simplicity of his 
early Galilean ministry was preaching to rejoicing mul- 
titudes among the mountain lilies, or from the waves of 
the pleasant lake. Oh, wliy did his Father in Heaven 
and his friend on earth suffer him to languish in this soul 
clouding misery ? Had not his life been innocent, had 
not his ministry been faithful, had not his testimony been 
true? Oh, why did not he to whom he had borne wit- 
ness beyond Jordan, call down fire from heaven to shat- 
ter those foul and guilty towers? Among so many 
miracles might not one be spared to the unhappy kins- 
man, who had gone before his face to prepare his way 
before him. Why should not the young son of David 
rock with earthquake the foundation of these Idumean 
prisons, where many a noble captive had been unjustly 
slain, or send but one of his twelve legions of angels to 
liberate his forerunner and his friend, were it but to re- 
store him to his desert solitude once more, content there 
to end his life among the wild beasts, so it were far from 
man's tyrannous infamy and under God's open sky ? 
AVhat wonder we say again if the eye of the caged eagle 
began to film? " 

Yet the Baptist is great even in despondency and 
death. Whatever feelings of neglect were in his heart, 



JOHN THE GREAT. 



79 



Le nobly refused to give them utterance. Indeed their 
only importance seems to him to lie in the doubt they 
cast upon his fondly cherished belief, that his eye had 
seen and his finger pointed out the Lamb of God. It 
matters little what becomes of him, but it is matter of 
terrible importance whether or not he has indulged a 
misplaced hope in a Saviour from sin, and deceived others, 
as well as himself, into supposing that' the long expected 
Messiah had really appeared. So he sends to ask, not if 
he may escape, not if be may die, but simply this; "Art 
thou he that should come or do we look for another." 

How different is this conduct from that of Jonah wlien 
his mission seemed to be a lie and his faithless gourd 
abandoned him to the blaze of an Eastern sun. How 
different too from the selfish despondency of Elijah when 
the voice that on Carmel had rung with accents of scorn 
for God's enemies and of triumph for His friends, sunk, 
at the threat of an angry woman, into a wail of despair for 
the righteous cause, and of bitterness for the life which 
suffered such vicissitudes. How different even from the 
petulance of Moses, when he broke the sacred tables nt 
the sight of the idolatrous multitude, or again at the 
waters of Meribah, when he chode with the children of 
Israel and forgot his faith in God. Verily, the history 
of the chosen people does not furnish a greater than John 
the Baptist, in the hour and power of darkness. 

It is comforting to think that the illustrious cap- 
tive's last days were solaced with ample confirmation of 
his wavering hopes with regard to the Messiah, for the 
answer which was returned must have satisfied his noble 
heart that his misgiving did both Jesus and himself 
injustice. Go and tell John that the Prince of Peace 



So 



JOHN THE GREAT, 



who so exactly fills up tlie prophetic promise of Isaiah, 
is in very deed the One, to prepare whose way his voice 
has beeu lifted up in the wilderness. It is enough; 
though immured in a dungeon he is content. Though 
his eyes look upon the keen axe and the grim execu- 
tioner, he can depart in peace for his eyes have also seen 
the salvation of God. Though his head be placed upon a 
charger and presented as a rare and luscious dish to feast 
the eyes of her whose sins he had denounced, yet shall 
her hate, her gibes, her insults injure herself alone. She 
may mutilate the dead visage whose living frown she 
dared not face, but John the Baptist is beyond her reach. 
Even his mangled body is tenderly and reverently laid 
away by loving hands and the soul which for thirty 
years has struggled to subdue and mortify the fleshly 
tenement, spurns it aside at length, and passes upward to 
be forever "great in the sight of the Lord." 

" Servant of God — well done, 
Rest from thy loved employ, 
The battle o'er, the victory won, 
Enter thy Master's joy. 

The cry at midnight came. 

He started np to hear. 
A mortal arrow pierced his frame, 

He fell but felt no fear. 

His spirit with a bound. 

Left its encumbering clay. 
His tent at sunrise on the ground, 

A darkened ruin lay." 



YI. 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 

" Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that 
is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts : smite the shepherd and the 
sheep shall he scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little 
ones." — Zech. xiii. 7. 

THIS is an hard saying. The Bible tells in a 
perfectly simple and straight-forward manner of 
many sore judgments inflicted upon nations and in- 
dividuals by the relentless severity of the Most High. 
That was a dreadful doom which was written on the 
plaster of tlie palace wall at Babylon when the " sound 
of revelry by night," died away and the stillness of 
" terror by night " took its place. That was a heart-rend- 
ing sentence which the prophet was commanded to pro- 
nounce concerning the king who might have been as a 
signet upon the hand of Jehovah. " Write ye this man 
childless." That was an appalling command by which 
the Amalekites were devoted to the sword without dis- 
tinction, without exception and without mercy. That was 
a startling requirement by which Jerusalem was held 
accountable for all the righteous blood that had been shed 
on the earth from the murder of Abel down. That is an 
ear- tingling blood-curdling history which recounts with- 
out apology or palliation the exact and literal execution 
of those ruthless decrees by which at one time the 
fountains of the great deep were broken up to blot out 
6 8i 



82 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



the race of men. At anoilier, the solid earth was 
suddenly opened to swallow down two hundred and fifty 
men as remorselessly as the angry Tay engulfed that 
entire train of passengers. At another, the firmament 
WHS compelled to carry and diffuse a death-dealing 
blast to destroy the host of Sennacherib, and at another, 
hell itself seemed to be laid under tribute to provide 
materials for the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Who can read without shuddering of the fiery serpents 
among the tents of Israel, of the many terrible scourges 
so often inflicted upon the people for the sins of their 
rulers, of the successive (outrages perpetrated by the 
armies of Syria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece and lionie, of 
the rending of the kingdom and throne of David, of the 
bloody strife between brethren, of the long captivity and 
the final dispersion? But all these w^oes are directly 
ascribed to God by the sacred waiters. [N'either do they 
flinch from the writing, they do not dissemble, they do 
not gloss over, they do not attempt to explain or excuse 
or defend. On the contrary they call the L(jrd a con- 
suming fire, a pitiless and inexorable Judge, a jealous 
devourer of the whole earth, an irreconcilable and deadl y 
enemy of evil. In the face of such titles so well earned, 
who dares to say that God cannot or will not punish with 
everlasting destruction? 

But the half has not been told. There is mention 
made in this book of a doom more dreadful, a sentence 
more heartrending, a command more appalling, a require- 
ment more startling, a decree vastly more blood-curdling 
than any to which allusion has yet been made. And 
this awful judgment is ascribed to God, and to Him 
alone, as author, not only without compunction, but even 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



83 



with pride and boasting. It is the judgment which is 
pronounced by the lips of a loving, gentle and well 
pleased Father upon an obedient, an innocent and an 
only child. " Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and 
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
Hosts. Smite the shepherd, ^nd the sheep of the flock 
shall be scattered abroad." 

Consider the force of this edict. It is a summons to 
divine justice to indemnify itself for the injury it has 
sustained. It means wrath unto the uttermost and 
punishment to tbe last jot of the law. It is the cry which 
calls an outraged attribute of Deity to rise up to the prey 
and glut its thirst for revenge. The insulted majesty of 
law has long been searching for a fit object on which to 
vent its fierceness. It has gathered all its terrors in 
bristling array ; its rage has been pent up till heaven 
was ready to burst with vengeance, and at last the 
warrant issues forth. Open the flood-gates of fury ! Let 
the overflowing scourge rush on in its desolating 
mission ; loose the avalanche of indignation ! Let 
it slip from its place in a moment to crush and to 
overwhelm. Pluck off the grapes of wrath! Let the 
vintage of blood be trampled out till it rise to the horse 
bridles. Roll back tbe windows of heaven ! Let the 
storm break in all its strength over the head that is 
deprived alike of shelter and pillow. Waken the sword 
of i-etribution ! Let the keen blade leap from its scab- 
bard and bury itself in the bosom that is bared for the 
blow ; let it pierce through the breast to the heart and 
through the heart to the very soul. Lift up the writh- 
ing victim thus impaled, to the brutal gaze of earth and 
hell. Let his dying struggles furnish matter for ridicule. 



84 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



Let "him die the death of a malefactor and his last end be 
like his. Let him look in vain on every side for 
sympathy. Let all refuge fail him and no man care for 
his soul, till the bitterest cry that ever was uttered be 
wrung from his anguish-torn spirit. "Is it nothing to 
you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any 
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, 
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His 
fierce anger. For these things I weep; mine eye, mine 
eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that 
should relieve my soul is far from me." 

0, my friends, when we think that all this hue and 
cry after a justly proscribed outlaw, might be raised, and 
in truth ought to be raised, against us, w^ho are guilty of 
the whole law, when we remember that every sin de- 
serves the wrath and curse of God^ and that our sins are 
as scarlet in His sight, do we not need to tremble? 

A man stood in a fit of absent-mindedness before a 
shop window in a street of London. He was well known 
to be a tradesman of respectable position and irreproach- 
able character. Suddenly the cry was raised, "Stop 
thief, stop thief," and the officers came ruiming along. 
"Here lam," said he, ''take me." "Why sir," they 
said, " we are not after you. What do you mean ? 
" I mean that I am a thief. Twenty years ago I robbed 
my master." Thus did conscience speak after a silence 
of twenty years. 

What does conscience say to us as we hear the unex- 
pected voice of God, " Awake, sword, and smite ? " We 
are guilty, we cannot conceal it. Shall the officers hale 
us to prison to rot there till we pay the uttermost farth- 
ing of that which we have stolen from our master, lo, 



7 -IE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



85 



these years ? Ko, blessed be the God and Fatlier of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the sword is awaked, but not against 
us, the avalanche nods to its plunge, but we are removed 
from its path, the storm breaks overhead but we are 
protected, the sluices are opened, but we are on safe 
ground, the officers are in hot pursuit, but thej pass us 
by unharmed, the winepress is trodden, but of the people 
there is none to stain his raiment. 

Whom then is this sword to pierce? We learn from 
the text that it is at all events directed against a man. 
This is as it should be. If man sins, man must bear the 
penalty. No substitute of a different nature can be en- 
tertained. 

Til ere was a boy in a ragged school of Edinburg who 
broke an important rule. He was called up and ordered 
to strip for punishment. When his back was uncovered, 
he presented such a pitiful appearance, such a thin and 
wasted form, that the teacher hesitated, and looking 
round asked if any other boy was willing to take the 
flogging instead. At once a chubby and stout-hearted 
little fellow pulled off his coat and offered his own back 
to the rod. So the starved looking boy escaped, and j^et 
justice was satisfied. It would not have answered the 
teacher's purpose if a dog had been brought in from the 
street to receive the whipping, and neither would it have 
done if some kind angel from heaven had come and 
offered to take the punishment, because neither of these 
could take the guilty child's place in the school. So in 
the larger school of humanity, it is both necessary and 
fitting that the penalty for human sin should be imposed 
upon one of human kind. 

But who is the man that will set himself as a mark for 



86 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



the arrows of tlie Almiglitj ? Or if one can "be fonnd wlio 
is willing to be accursed from God for the sake of his 
kinsmen according to the flesh, where is the man who is 
capable of receiving the full measure of divine wrath ? 
Why, the chastening touch of God's little finger laid on 
in love smote to the dust such giants as the upright Job, 
and the patient Jeremiah, and the much enduring David, 
and the fiery souled Elijah, and the great hearted John 
the Baptist. Where shall greater than these be found to 
bear up under God's heavy hand laid on in anger. These 
weie utterly confounded when He forsook them for a 
small moment and hid His face in a little wrath. But if 
such men were wearied by footmen, who can hope to 
contend with horses? And if in a land of peace wherein 
tliey trusted, such men trembled, who will venture to 
face the lions that lurk in the thickets of Jordan? Even 
the angels who made proud war in heaven and kept the 
field for many days against archangels, yet when they 
felt the shock of God's " ten thousand thunders," 

" They astonished all resistance lost, 
All courage ; down their idle weapons dropped ; 
O'er shields and helms and helmed heads he rode 
Of thrones and mighty seraphim prostrate. 
Yet half His strength He put not forth, but checked 
His thunder in mid volley." 

How then shall puny man sustain the fierceness of the 
wrath of the Almighty? "Run ye to and fro through 
the streets and see now and know and seek in the broad 
places, if ye can find a man " who is a worthy victim of 
eternal vengeance. 

This is a question which only God can answer. I read 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



87 



in the text, " Awake, sword, against my sliepherd and 
against the man that is my fellow^ saith the Lord of 
Hosts." If any man can be found who has been associ- 
ated with God on equal terms, this man will be a proper 
burden bearer for the race of sinners. There is one 
snch, and only one, who was "made in the likeness of 
men," yet "thought it not robbeiy to be equal with 
God." He is able to drain the cup of almighty wrath, 
but is he willing? Yes, to the very dregs. Will he 
suffer, the just for the unjust? "Surely he hath borne 
our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded 
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." 
Will he tamely submit, not only to the waves and bil- 
lows of God, but also to the insults of men? "He was 
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his 
mouth ; lie is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and 
as a sheep before her shearer is dumh so he openeth not 
his mouth." Will his courage falter or his strength 
give way ? "He shall not fail or be discouraged till he 
send forth judgment unto victory." 

Who is this mighty man? the Fellow of Jehovah ? 
The text answers again, "He is a shepherd ; my shepherd, 
saith the Lord of Hosts." No ordinary degree of fitness 
for the office is demanded of that shepherd who shall be 
the peculiar property and treasure of God. The shep- 
herd after God's own heart, who possesses all the highest 
qualities for the place, of hjm and him onlj?- will Jehovah 
say " He is my shepherd and my fellow." Now, what are 
these qualities and who can fairly claim to possessthem? 
There is a beautiful description of a true shepherd in the 
thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel. "I will feed my flock 
and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. 



88 THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



I will seek that wliich. was lost and bring again that 
which was driven away and will bind up that 
which was broken, and will strengthen that which was 
sick.'' Again in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, " Behold 
the Lord God will come with strong hand and his arm 
shall rule. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he 
shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in 
his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with 
young." 

These are the functions of a good shepherd, to rule, to 
feed, to watch, to restore, to strengthen, and to love his 
flock. But one qualification is omitted here. It is the 
highest of all and the one whose absence stamps any 
apparent shepherd as nothing but a hireling who takes 
the oversight of the flock for the sake of filthy lucre. 
This supreme qualification is a willingness to meet the 
hungry wolves in defense of the flock and to bear the 
brunt of danger, even unto death if need be. Thus 
Jacob understood it when he vindicated himself to 
Laban. " That which was torn of beasts I brought not 
unto thee. I bore the loss of it ; of my hand didst thou 
require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 
Thus I was, in the day the drought consumed me and 
the frost by night and my sleep departed from mine 
eyes." So Moses understood it of his responsibiltj^ for 
Israel. " Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin — and if 
not blot me^ I pray thee, out of thy book which thou 
liast written." So the youthful David understood it 
when he kept his father's sheep and there came a lion 
and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, for he 
followed them and smote them and delivered his lamb at 
the risk of his life. 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



89 



But Jacob and Moses and David were after all, only 
feeble types of God's true sliepherd, worthy indeed to lead 
his people through tlie wilderness like a flock, or to feed 
them in Canaan with upright heart, but not worthy to 
lead them into the heavenly Canaan or feed them by the 
river of life. They were faithful nnder-shepherds, but 
the chief shepherd is he who speaks in the tenth of John's 
gospel. " The good shepherd giveth his life for the 
sheep. I am the good shepherd and I lay down my life 
for the sheep." Bear in mind that in the old Saxon, on 
which our language is built, God and good are the same 
word, so that the good shepherd is the same as the God 
shepherd. 

The expression of Zechariah is to all intents and 
purposes identical with the expression in the gospel, and 
we see this prophet of the olden time pointing an index 
finger to Jesus of Nazareth and saying, "Behold the 
shepherd of God ! Behold and smite." It is woeful to 
think that the very fact of his shepherdhood involved 
the necessity of his death. To be God's own shepherd, 
is to give his life a ransom for many. But he does not 
blench from the sacrifice. For this cause he came to 
this hour. So he calmly goeth before his flock to 
Gethsemane and they know his voice and follow him ; 
sadly, for he has told them that he is going away from 
them and that they should be offended in him, and cast 
him off; that one should deny, another, betray him ; 
sadly, for it is the hour and the power of darkness. It 
is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep 
forth. They are gathering about him now fiercer than 
ravening wolves, stronger than bulls of Bashan, more 
ravenous than roaring lions, more unclean than savage 



90 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD, 



dogs, a great multitude of soldiers and priests and 
scribes with lanterns and torches and weapons; thej are 
led bj the son of perdition who, to make sure of his 
thirty silver pieces, betrays the Son of Man with a kiss, 
and the kiss of Judas is the sword of God. "Awake, O 
sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is 
my fellow. Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be 
scattered." And he, the godlike shepherd, is led as a 
lamb to the slaughter, while they, the timid sheep, are 
scattered every one to his own ; scattered but not lost, 
else were his death in vain ; not lost, for while one hand 
is raised to smite the shepherd, the other is turned back 
to shield the little ones. " Fear not little flock for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give youtlie kingdom." 

The blow falls that is meant to destroy the flock but 
the Good Shepherd takes all its force into his own 
breast. He thinks not of his own suffering while they are 
in danger but all his care is for them. " If ye seek me let 
these go their way. Then they all forsook him and 
fled." No one of them rose far enough above selfish 
interests to enter into his feelings and abide by him in 
bis doom. How true to the fact is the metaphor here ? In 
the hour of security, the sheep attach themselves closely 
to their keeper ; they come at his call, they eat from 
his hand, they lie down at his side ; but in the hour of 
danger when the shepherd falls a prey to the wolves 
how frightened are the silly sheep ; how they scatter in 
every direction with headlong haste to get away ! The 
shepherd is torn with cruel fangs but no sheep thinks of 
coming to his aid ; he looks around for succor, or at least 
for sympathy, but they are bent on saving themselves; 
be cries aloud in agony but they only flee the faster. 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



91 



Thus the good slieplierd was stricken, "smitten of God 
and afflicted and we hid as it were our faces from liim. 
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, 
every one, to his own way and the Lord hath laid on 
him the iniquity of us all." 

Not only does the flock abandon the shepherd in his 
hour of sorest need, but his God deserts him also. Nay, 
more, his own Father takes pleasure in putting him to 
the sword. " It pleased the Lord to bruise him." The 
very voice that spoke from the excellent glory " This 
is my beloved son " said also to the fatal weapon 
" Awake, and smite my shepherd." 

Wlien Caesar was attacked by the conspirators and 
received blow after blow from enemies' hands till more 
than twenty gaping wounds were opened in his body, he 
bore up bravely till he felt the dagger of the well be- 
loved Brutus. " Then burst his mighty heart." So also 
David as he fled from Absalom could endure the re- 
proaches of Shimei,but when he learned that Ahithophel 
had counseled his dishonor and destruction, then he 
broke completely down : 

" 'Twas not a foe who did deride, 

For that I could endure, 
No hater who thus rose in pride, 

Else would I hide secure. 
But then it was my friend and guide, 

AVe did as equals meet ; 
We walked to God's house side by side 

And blended counsel sweet." 

Even so the Son of David was not dismayed by 
treachery nor desertion, nor malice, nor cruelty, nor 
condemnation, till his Father and Fellow and Guide with- 



92 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD, 



drew his face. Then he cried with an exceeding loud 
and bitter cry, " M}^ God, my God, wLy hast thou for- 
saken me? " Yerily the sword is keen. It cuts deeply 
and unsparingly. How deeply, how keenly, we can 
never know. " It was the consummation and the con- 
centration of all woe, beyond which there was and could 
be no deeper ang-uish for the soul." 

Tliis awful tragedy, wherein the voice of the Eternal 
calls upon the sword of inflexible justice to smite with 
all its force the Fellow of his throne, is enacted before 
our eyes upon the stage of earth, for what purpose? Is 
it to inform our minds or touch our sensibilities, to 
arouse our interest or kindle our admiration ? It effects 
all this, to be sure, but its vital meaning is infinitely 
more than this, even the salvation of our souls. God 
spared not his own son but delivered him up to be cruci- 
fied, that he might spare an aflSicted and poor people, 
" as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." 
How affectingly is this indicated in the text! When his 
shepherd has been made an offering for sin, then he will 
turn his hand upon the little ones. That is, he will take 
them in hand, as we say, he will turn his attention to 
them, in order to thoroughly purge away their dross and 
remove every trace of alloy ; or as it is in the context, to 
bring the remnant, the third part, the little ones, through 
the fire to refine them as silver is refined and try tliem 
as gold is tried ; they shall call on mj^ name and I will 
hear them. I will say, "It is mj^ people, and they shall 
say the Lord is my God." " We see from this how care- 
ful the Good Shepherd is of the least and most despised of 
his flock. He will bless them so that the little one be- 
comes a thousand, and the small one a strong nation." 

The Jews cried out in the wilderness that their little 



THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD. 



93 



ones would become a prey, but the promise is rather that 
they shall exclusively possess the land of which their 
fathers were not worthy. 

How often and how lovingly in the Kew Testament 
does the Sliepherd refer to little ones? " Except ye he- 
come as little children;" " Whosoever shall give to one of 
these little ones a cup of cold water only," and " Whoso- 
ever shall offend one of these little ones," both shall have 
their reward. *' Take heed that ye despise not one of 
these little ones for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." 
And "It is not the will of yonr fatlier in heaven that one 
of tliese little ones should perish." Think of it. Here 
is the only and well beloved Son of God in the bosom of 
the Father and here on earth are some insignificnnt 
creatures, filthy and worthless. And God thrusts awny 
from his arms the son of his love, degrades him below 
the angels, puts him to open shame, pierces him through 
with many sorrows, and suffers him to perish miserably 
that he may gather these wretched outcasts in his arms 
and carry them in his bosom. 

" What shall I render nnto the Lord for all his bene- 
fits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call 
upon the name of the Lord." 

" O ray soul bless thou Jehovah, 

All within me bless his name, 
Bless Jehovah and forget not 

All his mercies to proclaim. 

Bless Jehovah all his creatures, 

Ever under his control ; 
All throughout liis vast dominion. 

Bless Jehovah, ! my soul ! " 



YII. 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 

*' Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other 
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." 
— Acts iv. 12. 

THIS is a very astonishing claim. We read in the 
papers, daily, advertisements of remedies whicli 
claim to offer a perfect cure from very many of " the ills 
that flesh is heir to," and we read with a smile of pity or 
a sneer of contempt. But no quack in medicine was 
ever yet bold enough to claim for himself or his nostrum 
the power to reach the source of all disease in tlie 
system, and change the bitter fountain into a pure and 
wholesome spring, which should never become muddy 
or tainted. 

What then is the proj^er measure of our pity or con- 
tempt for this unlearned and ignorant fisherman who 
stands forth in the presence of the Jewish supreme 
court to prescribe an absolute panacea, not only for 
diseases of the body, but also, and equally, for distress of 
the mind and even for the agony of a troubled con- 
science ? 

Salvation in its widest application, including deliver- 
ance from all oppression, relief from all pain, the satis- 
faction of every pure desire, and the banishment of all 
impurity, the perfection of moral and physical character, 
the symmetrical and complete development of body and 
soul into the likeness of the First Good, First Perfect, and 
94 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



95 



First Fair, tliis, the mere mention of which takes tlie 
breath away, is the plain import of these downright 
words. Was Peter mad in making such a claim for the 
name of his mastei"? Was he a fool for denying similar 
power to any other ? 

As to his positive claim in the case, we must adm t 
that Peter's experience and observation were remarkab y 
well calculated to lead to such a conclusion. There 
stood the man beside him who j^esterday sat at the 
beautiful gate of the temple, displaying his life-long 
lameness as a plea for charity. Peter had simply said, 
"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and 
walk," and the feet which had never done their ofl&ce 
before stood firmly as he leaped upon them. Here was 
salvation for the body. 

Again, when the two disciples walked to Emmaus, 
they were in great distress of mind over the prophec-es 
which told of a glorious Messiah. They could not un- 
derstand the death of Jesus, they trusted that it had 
been he who should redeem Israel, and lo ! himself w^ss 
stricken down. Then the stranger came, whose inter- 
pretation of the things concerning himself put a new face 
on the matter and chased the shadows from their coun- 
tenances. Here was salvation for the mind. Peter must 
have been familiar with their story. 

Then there was the memory of that "dark des[)airing 
night" when the Eock man denied his Master and went 
out to weep bitterly while his soul seemed sinking in the 
sea of remorse, and once more as on Galilee, the hand of 
Jesus was stretched out to save him from being swal- 
lowed up of despair. Here was salvation for the con- 
science. 



96 



THE OXLY SALVATIOX. 



As to the further idea tliat salvation includes a blessed 
immortality and likeness to God, Peter had seen the 
earthly body of Christ transfigured to outshine the sun, 
and his dead body refilled ^^-ith life and received up into 
heaven, which things could not but be a sufficient pledge 
and symbol to him, that the good work begun in himself 
would be carried forward till he became worthy to stand 
by the side of his glorified Lord. 

Was it folly in Peter that he believed all this? Xay, 
but he would have been a fool to doubt it, and this same 
test of experience may be used by us. We have all that 
Peter had, and more, to convince us of its truth. The 
weight of evidence has been increasing throughout the 
centuries. Still it is not on historical data mainly that 
I would rest the case. Eather I would say to every one, 
"Taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed is the man 
that trusteth in him.'' 

Let your own experience be your best evidence. 
When you are sick and the doctor offers a remedy which 
is said to have cured thousands, you may believe that to 
be true after a fashion, but if it cures you^ your faith is 
marvelously confirmed. When the sailor takes an ob- 
servation on the high seas and makes out his exact lati- 
tude and longitude on the chart, he has nothing except 
his confidence in his nautical tables to persuade him thnt 
he knows his position on the ocean. But when by using 
the same tables, he crosses the waste of waters and brings 
his vessel into port he is possessed of irrefragable evi- 
dence of the truthfulness of those astronomical foimulae, 
by the help of which, he has plouglied a straight furrow 
in the pathless expanse to his destination. 

In like manner the apostle urges us to ascertain the 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



97 



worth of inspired compatations. "Let every man prove 
his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in him- 
self and not in another." 

Thus, when the soul is buffeted about on the billows 
of trouble and doubt and fear, it has only the witness of 
others to cling to. But when it is brought at length by 
the help of heavenly observation to the desired haven of 
peace with God, then it does indeed feel assured that the 
glass of faith and the quadrant of inspiration are worthy 
of all confidence and abundantly able to give salvation. 
"Therefore being justified by faith, have peace 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

So much for the positive side of this claim of Peter. 
There is salvation in the name of Christ. Every honest 
and patient soul that has accepted his testimony and 
guidance, even when the horizon was bounded on all 
sides by foaming waters, with no sure indication of the 
proper course to be pursued, and with a mighty tempest 
beating full upon it, has been brought without exception 
and without wreck to drop anchor in the waters of still- 
ness and furl the sail in the harbor of God's peace. 

But how about the negative side of this question ? Is 
there truly no other name under heaven to conjure down 
the demons of storm and quicksand? Is Christ the only 
as well as the all-suf&cient name ? Is the gospel ship the 
only ark that bears its living freight in safety over the 
swelling tide, when the fountains of eternal wrath are 
broken up? Is the corner stone of Zion the onlv s;ife 
retreat when the pitiless hail sweeps down upon the 
refuge of lies, and the overflowing scourge inundates the 
hiding places of earth ? Alas I the language of the text 
is too straightforward to allow the faintest hope of any 
7 



98 



THE OXL Y SAL VA TION. 



second name to drive away the legions of evil spirits 
that beset the souls of men. It is a hard and bitter 
truth to preach but it is confirmed bj the voice of reason 
as well as of revelation. Every hope is vain, every 
attempt is futile that looks toward redemption for the 
soul, apart from the name of Christ. Every torch kindled 
from the strange fire of any other altar serves only to 
make the darkness visible. 

Perhaps this will be more evident if we turn our atten- 
tion to tlie various religions which have most widely 
i)revailed and ask them if they hold the gi'eat secret 
which Job describes so powerfully. "The depth saith, 
It is not in me; and the sea saith. It is not with me. 
Destruction and death say. We have heard the fame 
thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way 
thereof, and lie knoweth the place thereof." 

As a simple and decisive test of these religions, let us 
ask them in turn for a definition of the name of God. 
This will surely show each faith at its best, for it will in 
each case bring to view the loftiest conception of which 
the believing soul is capable; and it will give a fair test 
whether salvation can be found in any of them, since the 
God of belief is universally the goal of action, and to adore 
is to imitate. 

Suppose we begin with Greece. Standing among the 
ruins of the Parthenon, the noblest temple that ever pointed 
heavenward, — Solomon's was unsightly compared to it, 
— some fragments of which form the chiefest attraction 
of the British Museum to-day, let us listen to the echoes 
of Divinitv that still sigh mournfully among its desolate 
pillars. What is the loftiest ideal of Deity to which the 
wise men of the wise nation attained ? 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



99 



I hear a confused murmur of voices and a few rising 
above the rest become articulate. "He is the most 
ancient of all things, for he is without beginning." That 
is the voice of Thales. " He is air." Tliat is Anax- 
imines. "He is a pure mind;" So speaks Anaxa- 
goras. " He is air and mind ; " That is Archelaus. " He 
is miiid in a spherical form;" — ^Democritus. "He is a 
monad and the principle of good." — Pythagoras. Tiiat's 
the nearest guess yet. " He is an eternal circular fire ; " 
Heraclitus. " He is the infinite and immovable principle 
in a spherical form ; " Parmenides. " He is one and every- 
thing, the only eternal and infinite ; " Zeno. 

And is that all? Have they all spoken? Is there no 
nobler name in the Grecian mind than this? Then, verilj^, 
the world by wisilom knew not God, and the grandest 
results of the subtlest human thought after two thousand 
years, is a smooth flowing language and a few exquisite 
works of art. 11" Greece has spoken, it is not worth while 
to linger on the banks of the Tiber. Let us cross the 
continent to Medina and bend a listening ear at the tomb 
of the Arabian prophet. What saith Mohammed? The 
answer is brief and stern, " God is a despot, submit or 
die." That is clear cut at all events. There is no need 
of repetition. Moreover it is a powerful faith. It rouses 
to action. It tramples on impossibilities. Every faith- 
ful believer becomes a despot too. He rushes upon 
obstacles. He bears down opposition. He defies resis- 
tance and he offers but one alternative, "Keceive Moham- 
med or receive the sword." That is why the Moslem 
has carried his victorious crescent from the Ganges to the 
Pillars of Hercules. He was 'the exponent of an ener- 
getic, indomitable will. Because the vital principle of 



100 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



liis religion was masterful and based on truth, therefore 
he was mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. This 
was his strength in the day of battle, and this was his 
weakness in the day of peace. " And hence," it has been 
well observed, "it has been proved that Mohammedanism 
can thrive only while it is aiming at conquest. Why ? 
Because it is the proclamation of a mere Sovereign, who 
employs men to declare the fact that he is a Sovereign 
and to enforce it upon the world. It is not the proclamation 
of a great Moral Being who designs to raise His creatures 
out of their sensual and natural degradation ; who reveals 
to them not merely that He is, but icliat He is; why He 
has created them, and what they have to do with Him. 
Unless this mighty chasm in the Mohammedan doctrine 
can be filled up, it must wither day by day, wither for 
all purposes of utility to mankind: it can leave nothing 
behind but a wretched carcass filling the air with the 
infection of its rottenness." 

Pass on then to Persia and inquire at tlie lips of 
Zoroaster, AYliat is God? Tlie answer is substantially 
this ; " God is light and in him is no darkness at all." 
Very beautiful and very true. No wonder the Persian 
faith was bound up at one time with a great portion of 
Asia, retained sufficient vitality to rise from the dust 
after five centuries of sleep, and reassert its supremacy. 
The eighth chapter of Gibbon's great work contains a 
brilliant description of this revolution : "But alas for li;e 
children of light and of the day ! They failed to j^ene- 
trate the symbolical character of their own definition and 
the inevitable result Avas first, the Avorship of the sun and 
stars, and then of the smallest flame kindled by their own 
hands." Pass now to the Indus, and ask the one hundred 



THE ONLY SALVATION, 



lOI 



and seveDty-five millions who personify and adore its 
waters, wliat is tlieir loftiest conception of God. The 
answer is contradictory. One of the common people will 
say wildly, " Tiiere are three hundred millions of Gods, 
liow shall I describe them ? " While the representative 
of the highest caste, himself a lesser deity, will respond 
that " the God of the Hindoo is a pure intelligence, whose 
eternal attitude is one of rest and his sole occupation the 
contemplation of himself." Salvation, or likeness to him, 
is only for the favored few whose circumstances permit 
them to retire into solitary meditation ; and then become 
as nearly as possible absorbed into nothingness. This is 
to be lost, not saved, and this is the best that Brabminism 
has to offer. Its worst is too horrible to dwell upon. 

Then let us climb the Himalayas and ask the dwellers 
in Thibet to explain their estimate of God. For all 
answer we are pointed to the grand Lama. Here, says 
the devout worshiper, dwells the spirit of Buddha. Look 
at him^ think of him, and you will be changed at length 
into his image, whicli being interpreted, by a careful study 
of the system, amounts to this, " that there is in man, in 
humanity, a certain divine Intelligence, whicb, at diffei'- 
ent times, and in different places, manifests itself more or 
less completely, and vvhicb must have some one central 
manifestation. The human intellect is first felt to be the 
perfect organ of worship ; finally its one object. This is 
Buddhism : this is the conviction which with more or 
less of confusion, is working in the hearts of six hundred 
millions of people on this globe of ours." 

Pass still further eastward, scale the great wall, traverse 
the Celestial Empire and ask the disciples of Confucius to 
%ell what is the mainspring of that theology which claims 



102 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



such a venerable antiquity, and whicli has preserved the 
Chinese government intact for so many hundreds of dynas- 
ties. The answer is simple and sufficient, "A principle 
of order is that whicli we reverence beyond all other 
notions of divinity." 

The effect of this worship is indeed to embalm society 
and place it apparently out of the reach of decay, but it is 
such salvation as tlie mummy shares which reposes behind 
the walls of a pyramid, indifferent to the flight of time 
indeed, but insensible also to the return of spring and 
incapable of growth ; or as the fossil which the earth 
has enclosed and petrified, not as the seed that falls and 
dies, yet refuses to be holden of death, that pushes its 
way upward to the light and forward to the full measure 
of its perfect stature. 

Thus have we accosted the chief religions of the world 
and such is the result. Let me say in passing that modern 
skepticism, which might feel slighted if it were left out 
of sight, when the principal faiths of the world are brought 
under notice, furnishes a striking proof of Solomon's 
aphorism, "There is nothing new under the sun.'' I re- 
member with what electrical eff'ect a converted Brahmin, 
stated in a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance held in 
New York City some years ago, that since his coming to 
this country he had found the opponents of Christianity 
urging with complacency and with effect objections to the 
truth of revelation, most of which had been exploded on 
the banks of the Ganges two thousand years ago. 

We will not pause to ask whether salvation is found 
in unbelief, for the God of the infidel is without form and 
void ; his faith is a system of negations, and his cherished 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



103 



hope of salvation is to be sunk utterly, irrevocably, ever- 
lastingly in oblivion. 

Faith after faith when questioned, yields a despairing 
answer, and sets its seal to the majestic and melancholy 
truth asserted by Christ, " Without me ye can do noth- 
ing." 

And yet it is no light matter to accept this statement of 
the text, for it draws with it a momentous conclusion. If 
salvation is to be had only in the name of Jesus Christ, 
there is no escape from the awful and overwhelming 
thought that eternity shall echo with the myriad groans 
and agonies of those wlio are dropping into it by thou- 
sands in an hour. 

" If we believe that^ what is our duty ? Manifestly to 
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature." 

Taking this view of the matter how date we remain 
idling away invaluable time, coddling ourselves with 
comforts, when untold numbers of our fellow creatures are 
ignorant of the only name that affords salvation? 

How dare we take any ease when multitudes are 
thronging the way to the lake that burneth with fire and 
brimstone ? If our ears have heard aright the joyful sound 
of salvation, how can our tongues be silent? Let him 
that heareth say come, and woe! to them that are at 
ease in Zion ! Do you see them ? the vast army of 
heathen who are rushing blindly on to destruction? Do 
you understand that hundreds of millions of poor soulg 
are perishing without hope when a whisper of Jesus 
might save them ? They are dying in ignorance, and you 
are possessed of knowledge! They are covered with 
darkness, and you are filled with light ! They are steeped 



104 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



in misery, and you are bathed in happiness ! Does the 
common bond of humanity give them no claim upon you ? 
If God's fuhiess meets your need shall not your fulness 
meet their need ? 

Do you only lialf realize your own salvation and one 
quarter believe in the salvability of others ? Is the gos- 
pel of the name of God nothing but a name to you ? 
Having a name to live are you destitute of vitality ? 
Having a form of godliness, do you lack its power ? 
Having the Master above you, the field before you and 
the sickle in your hand, are 3^ou redeeming the oppor- 
tunity? Is your bosom filling with slieaves and your 
tongue with the harvest home? These are questions 
which ought to ring in our ears like the alarm of fire 
when at midnight the hoarse bell startles the sleeping 
city, and the devouring flame strikes a lurid light into 
our chambers. Whoever is thoroughly aroused by their 
warning appeal and perceives that souls are in jeopardy 
whom he might help to save, must not, can not, will not, 
fall back upon his soft bed and compose himself to 
slumber. He will start up and cry with Paul " Woe is 
me if I preach not the gospel." 

It is not given to many to feel such burning zeal, but 
whenever it is given, let all men beware of putting ob- 
stacles in the way. Our dearest and best are none too 
good for the Master's service. 

In a battle between the Eoyalists and the troops of 
Cornwall, a foster-father and seven brave sons sacrificed 
themselves for Sir Hector Maclean. Whenever one of 
his boys fell the old man would cry " Another for Hec- 
tor," and thrust forward the next in age to fill his place 
^t the right h^iid of his beloved chief, and before the 



THE ONLY SALVATION. 



105 



invincible Ironsides could reach that Highland leader 
they had to step over the dead bodies of eight devoted 
men who cheerf ally laid down their lives and counted 
them well spent in defence of their chieftian. 

The battle is raging with sin, and many a spear is 
lifted up against our blessed Lord. Where are the lov- 
ing followers whose simple duty it is to stand up in His 
defence, to come up to his help against the mighty ? 
Where are the parents to thrust their children forward 
and cry "another for Jesus ? " Thank God there have been 
such I Dr. Durbin tells of an old Moravian woman who 
said on hearing that her first born son had gone to 
heaven through the missionary life, " Is Thomas dead, 
would to God that He would call John! " John too be- 
came a missionary; and he died. Then she said, "O 
that He would call William," and William went, and 
fell. Then the childless woman exclaimed, "Would 
that I had a thousand sons to give to God ; " and would 
that the church had a thousand such mothers ! 

This then is the conclusion which I draw from the 
text that every one who learns of salvation through the 
name of Christ is under obligation to make it known to 
others. But this conclusion while it drives out every 
other consideration in certain cases, does not bind the 
conscience of every Christian in such wise as to compel 
him to become a foreign missionary in his own person. 
There are other duties and other claims equally sacred 
because equally enjoined by the Lord of the harvest. 

The troops which on that hot July day stood silently 
in the wheat field beside the road that leads over the 
ridge from Gettysburg, were as truly obedient to the 
commanding General, and as truly helpful in gaining the 



1 06 THE *OXL Y SAL VA TION. 

victory as the more lionored heroes who liDed the breast- 
works on the fatal slope, and Avho raised a bulwark with 
their bodies while they said to the mighty surges of an 
unrighteous rebellion, " Hitherto hut no further^ and here 
shall thy proud waves be stayed.*' In like manner it is 
necessary that many should remain behind when our 
missionaries go forth. The honor is less but the duty 
and responsibility are equally great. 

Just here I find the necessity and tlie warrant for 
societies such as the one whose anniversary we celebrate 
to-day. They constitute the reserve force whose duty it 
is to stand to their arms and hold themselves in readi- 
ness to assist whenever help is most needed. Or to 
change the figure, they are the many who stand on the 
shore holding the rope while the bold and expert swim- 
mer dashes into the surf to rescue the struggling wretclies 
whose ship has driven upon the rocks. 

There was a house on fire in a certain city and a mul- 
titude thronged the street to gaze with intense interest 
upon the attempts that were made to extinguish the 
flame and to save endangered lives. It was thought that 
all had escaped when a child appeared at a fourth story 
window screaming for help. The firemen at once planted 
a ladder and one of the boldest began to ascend. It was 
a perilous venture but he was used to danger and had 
made up his mind to extricate that child. Half way up 
he was enveloped in the smoke and flames that poured 
in dense volumes from the wdndows. scorching him badly 
and setting the ladder itself on fire. The people held 
their breath as they looked and feared that both were 
lost. But he struggled on and soon appeared above the 
furious blaze. Then he paused to get his breath. As 



THE ONL Y SALVA TION. 



107 



he looked down upon the raging flames and saw the very- 
walls beginning to totter and felt the ladder yielding, his 
heart failed him and a mist came over his eyes. Then a 
fireman with great presence of mind sprang upon a hose 
truck and waving his trumpet to the crowd, cried out at 
the top of his voice, " He falters^ cheer him—cheer Ami," 
and it seemed as if the shout that broke from a thousand 
throats had lifted that gallant man bodily up the ladder. 
For he stood by tlie child and took her in his arms and 
a second ladder being guided to his feet he, descended 
safely to the ground. 

Dear friends, we look olF over the continent and across 
the sea, and we see the work of salvation arrested 
because the laborers ai*e so few. From India, from Ethi- 
opia, from the great West, there comes a Macedonian 
cry. If we do not feel an over- mastering impulse to go 
ourselves, at least we can send up a prayer that shall 
enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and we can 
send out a shout that shall echo from Alaska to Egypt, 
and from Egypt to Hindostan. We can cheer the hearts 
of lonely, weary, fainting missionaries, and spur them on 
to more successful labor in the full conviction that they 
are not alone in the work of faith ; that we too are con- 
strained by the love of Christ to judge " that if one died 
for all then were all dead ; " and that " He died for all 
that they which live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves but unto him which died for them and rose 
again," who only hath immortality. " Neither is there 
salvation in any other ; for there is none other name 
under heaven given among men whereby we must be 
saved." 



Till. 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 

"For as the rain coraeth down, and the snow from heaven, and 
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring 
forth and Imd, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the 
eater: So shall my word be that goerh forth out of my mouth; it 
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I 
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." — Isaiah, 
Iv. 10, 11. 

THERE are tliree meanings, or strictly speaking, 
three degrees of meaning, whicli may be attached 
to tlie plirase " my word," as it occurs in the text. We 
may understand it as referring especially to the Lord 
Jesus Christ who is the "word made flesh." This view 
is favored by the words, " that which I please " and, 
shall prosper^^^ which recall the language of the tenth 
verse of the fifty-third chapter, "/^ j:)?easec? the Lord to 
hruise him'''' and '■^ the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper 
in his hand: " or we may take it in its general sense as 
"every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the 
Lord," whether heard by all men, by a few men, by one 
man, by angels only, or not heard at all outside of the 
adorable Three: or again, it may be taken to mean the 
scriptures of the Old and IS'ew Testaments, which were 
given by the inspiration of God and may be called 
emphatically. His word. It matters little whether we 
restrict the meaning to particular utterances or expand 
it to include them all, or find in it a prophecy of redemp- 
tion through the person of Christ ; for in each case the 
io8 



GOD'S V/ORD LIKE RAIN. 109 

comparison will hold good that is there made between 
that word and the rain or snow. Since the Holy Ghost 
has thought good to draw out this comparison at some 
length, it will surely be within our province and worth 
our while to examine the poiuts wherein the resemblance 
appears most striking. 

Wherein then does the word of the Lord resemble 
rain or snow ? As snow and rain are substantially the 
same in their efiect and action, no attempt will be made 
to elaborate minute distinctions between them. 

In the first place, God's word is like rain, because it is 
from above. This resemblance is not confined to the 
word alone. " Every good gift and every perfect boon is 
from above." It would have been easy for God to have 
brought water from the ocean to the springs by secret 
underground channels, but he chose to make the clouds 
and the winds his ministers, as it would seem, in order 
that men might be led to "look through nature up to 
nature's God." There is a rich suggestiveness about the 
fact that when the rain falls, accomplishing its immediate 
purpose, it is not lost forever but hastens on its way 
from surface pools to hidden veins and thence to springs 
and rivers and oceans, and so back to the clouds again, 
to repeat for the ten thousandth time its blessed fall from 
above. 

Wonderful as are the achievements of man, the prob- 
lem of perpetual motion has never been solved by any 
human expedient. When the water has filled and 
turned the mill wheel once, it cannot be w^ooed by mortal 
genius to kiss that wheel again ; but with what infinite 
ease God's angel in the sun draws water from the level of 
the sea to fill the mill-race over and over as the years and 



no 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



the wheels go round. How far below the ways of God 
are the proudest works of men ? As with man's works, so 
with his thoughts and speech, " For as the heavens are 
higher than the eai'th, so are mj ways higher than your 
waj'S, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Man's 
words are " as water spilt on the ground which cannot be 
gathered up again," but God's words are like the rain 
which pauses not till it has returned to its soui'ce ; and 
hereby we know that the Bible is from God, because it 
does not return to Ilim void but carries the trusting soul 
on its gracious current back to the very fountain fi'om 
which it took its rise. If any one accept the Bible as 
God's word and act upon its teachings, his path shall be 
visibly upward till he looks upon the face of God by the 
side of the river of life. 

Again, God's word is like rain, because its action is not 
governed by any known rule. Every attempt to forecast 
the weather for a single season is a miserable failure. 
The rainfall over a very large area is singularly equal 
from year to year, yet there is remarkable variety in its 
visits to particular spots. In one state there ai-e forest 
fires and short crops, in another " the little springs run 
among the hills " and the barns overflow with plenty. 
But taking the year together, even in a single state, the 
whole amount of rain for each twelve months will be 
found about the same. So too, it is remarkable that the 
whole earth, speaking generally, is baptised with rain, 
while the rain falls not upon all parts at the same time, 
but in showers here and there. The same is true of each 
shower also. It is not laid on evenly, but irregularly, a 
drop here and a drop there, till the whole surface is 
saturated with moisture. So too, the rain is pleasant and 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



1 1 I 



joyful ID its effects, but dark and forbidding in its 
approach. Other points of apparent contradiction niiglit 
be mentioned, but these are sufficient to show what a 
paradox the rainfall presents. 

And is not this true likewise of God's word? Some- 
l ines He speaks in tones of thunder, that are heard from 
the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and 
again His voice is so still and small that a single person 
only can discern it, in the depths of his soul. Sometimes 
there is "a sound of abundance of rain" when mul- 
titudes fall ])rostrate, as on Carmel, crying out "The 
Lord, he is the God," and again there is a quiet meeting 
of a few disciples in a small upper room, and the " word 
made flesh " appears and some doubting Thomas drops on 
his knees confessing for himself alone " My Lord and my 
God." Sometimes there is a dearth of hearing the word 
of the Lord, as in Italy, while in Scotland regiments of 
inquirers are taking the Kingdom of Heaven by violence. 
Percliance the heathen are withering on their stalks for 
lack of refreshing words from above and the chosen 
people are drenched with "precept upon precept, line upon 
line." Perchance again Canaan is consumed by drought 
and there is abundance of revelation in Egypt. Moreover 
when the incarnate Word approaches the earth as the 
exponent of all peace and good will among men, even 
liis strange utterance is, "I am not come to send peace 
but a sword, to set men at variance and to make a man's 
bitterest foes, those of his own household." Tlie case of 
individual experience also is checkered with afflictions 
that work out glory and rainbows of promise set in clouds 
that mutter of judgments. 



112 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



Once more God's word is like rain because it is refresh- 
ing, cleansing and fertilizing. 

How beautiful is the rain 

After the dust and heat, 
In the broad and fiery street, 

In tlie narrow lane. 
How beautiful is the rain 

In the country on every side, 
When far and wide 

Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide 
Stretches the plain. 

To the dry grass and drier grain 
How welcome is the rain ! " 

How gratefully tlie flowers and all the plants lift up 
their drooping heads in response to its reviving touch I 
Not less refreshing is it to parched and drooping hum^n 
plants. When Israel was in the wilderness how delight- 
fully refreshing a shower was felt to be. So David 
thought at least. 

" O God when thou wast going 

Before thy peoples' face, 
And when the glorious marching 

Was through the wilderness, 
Earth trembled at thy presence 

And rain from lieaven fell, 
Even Sinai shook before thee 

Thou God of Israel. 
O God, thou to thy people 

Didst send a plenteous rain. 
Thy heritage wlien weary 

Thou didst refresh again." 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



Correspondingly, in the eighty-fourth Psalm weary 
pilgrims Zionward are represented as refreshened by 
God's word in the sanctuary : " Who passing through 
the valley of Baca make it a well ; the rain also filleth 
the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one 
of them in Zion appeareth before God." 

One of the old church legends relates that as St. Dun- 
stan was reading the scriptures with rapt attention one 
day in his cell, his harp which hung on a peg against 
the wall, sounded through sympathy with its master's 
feelings, or seemed to sound, although untouched by 
human hands; "for," says the credulous narrator, "an 
angel played on it the Psalm Gaudeate animi^ Eejoice, 
my soul." Call that a fable ? It is an absolute fact 
reproduced again and again in every pious Bible stu- 
dent's experience ; for as he draws water with joy from 
the wells of salvation in reading God's word, angelic 
fingers touch the chords of his soul and they vibrate 
" with grave sweet melody." 

Then too, what a blessing of cleansing accompanies 
God's word. As the streets are swept clean of their 
accumulated filth by the energy of a sudden shower, and 
as the Augean stables were cleaned by simply turning a 
stream of water through them, so the deceitful and filthy 
heart is cleansed by the influence of God's word. 
" Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing 
of water by the word." And when His farewell was 
spoken to the disciples. He said : " Now ye are clean 
tlirough the word which I have spoken unto you." 

It is a grand thing to utter words which have a puri- 
fying effect upon men. The noblest eulogy ever pro- 
8 



114 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



nouQced upon Addison was contained in the advice of 
Doctor Johnson to a young inciii, *'Give days and nights 
to the study of Addison, if you would be master of the 
English tongue, or what is more worth, an honest man." 
At a banquet given to Ralph Waldo Emerson in Boston, 
one man rose and said that his whole life had been 
changed for the better, by reading a sentence in one of 
Emerson's essays, and therefoi-e it was remarked that 
this should be selected for Emerson's epitaph. Fox 
declared in the House of Commons ihat Coleridge's essays 
in the Morning Post had led to the rupture of the treaty 
of Amiens; and when the illustrious author of the 
"Eime of the Ancient Mariner," heard of this, he 
observed that if it had been said in cold blood instead of 
in the heat of debate, he should be proud to have the 
words inscribed upcm his tomb. 

If a page of Addison or a sentence of Emerson, or a 
few leaders of Coleridge are worthy of such praise, what 
shall we say of the Bible, whose every page is rich with 
thoughts which have found their way into the life-blood 
of thousands and moulded their character for all eter- 
nity ? When some earnest soul on the threshold of 
manhood inquires of us how he may escape evil and 
obtain good, shall we direct him to sift all the volumes 
of Emerson or Addison or Coleridge for the single sen- 
tence that may help to purify his life? or shall we point 
him to " a more excellent way ? " When he puts the 
question, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his 
way?" shall we not answer, "By taking heed thereto 
according to God's word." Let others sound the praises 
of mortal eloquence and genius, but as for me, the song 
of David is my creed and my cry: "Concerning the 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. II5 

works of men, bj the word of thy lips, I have kept me 
from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings 
in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." 

But the most noteworthy effect of God's word and the 
one emphasized in the text is the fi'uitfulness of which ]fc 
is the occasion. All that is needed to make the earth a 
barren primeval rock, is to withhold the rain irom fall- 
ing : and all that is needed to change any desert into a 
garden is a copious rainfall. Wherever in the arid waste 
of Sahara an artesian well has been sunk, an oasis has 
invariably come into being, and if the project of turning 
a portion of that vast desert into another Mediterranean 
should ever be carried out, a dwelling by the sea of 
Sahara would be no less delightful than in the balmy air 
of sunny Florida. When for three and a half years the 
skies above Palestine were shut up at the prayer of 
Elijah, drouth and famine scourged the land flowing with 
milk and honey: when at his prayer again, "the heaven 
gave rain," then " the earth brought forth her fruit," 
Every farmer understands this. "Behold the husband- 
man waitetli for the precious fruit of the earth and hath 
long patience for it until he receive the early and latter 
rain." Now the earth rests under a curse for man's sake, 
and the fact that he who doomed it to barrenness of 
good, and to productiveness of evil, so far restrains the 
operation of the curse, as to give fertilizing showers, is 
entirely analogous to the fact that man himself, abject 
and fallen by reason of sin, is yet, through the vitalizing 
energy of God's word, made the recipient of showers of 
blessing by which even he may "have his fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life." 

An illustration of this possible recovery is afforded by 



ii6 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



the casting down and lifting up of Nebuchadnezzar. In 
his premonitory vision, tlie great tree which symbolized 
himself, was devoted to destruction by the " watcher and 
boly one from heaven, yet the destruction was not to 
be complete. " Nevertheless," so the mandate was, 
" leave th.e stump of his roots in the earth even with a 
band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, 
and let it be wet with the dew of heaven." When 
Daniel interpreted the dream he did not explain why the 
stump was to be left among tender grass and wet with 
the falling dew, for it was a fact of natural history, fami- 
liar at least from the time of Job, that, under such, cir- 
cumstances, a tree would reproduce itself. " For there 
is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout 
again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the 
stalk thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of 
water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant." 

Even so Jehovah breathes a promise of restoration to 
His penitent people. ^' I will heal their backsliding. I 
will love them freely. I will be as the dew unto Israel. 
He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as 
Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty 
shall be as the olive tree." 

Let it be understood that every victory over the curse 
has come through the ministry of Grod's word. Every 
step which the race has taken upward from barbarism 
is the result of listening to words spoken from heaven. 
Every deed of kindness and every glance of love, if not 
directly inspired by G-od's word owe their paternity to 
it, even when they are found among infidels or savages. 

As a single specimen of the natural effect of that 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



117 



word upon the world, take the history of England. 
There are two companion pictures in that history which 
lend themselves readily to such an illustration. P]-o- 
bnbly tlie highest points of English greatness have been 
readied under Elizabeth and Victoria. When Elizabeth 
was passing through the streets of London to her corona- 
tion, as Hume relates, " a boy who personated Truth 
was let down from one of the triumphal arches and pre- 
sented to her a copy of the Bible. She received the book 
with the most gracious deportment ; placed it next her 
bosom; and declared that amidst all the costly testi- 
monies, which the city had that day given her, of their 
attachment, this present was by far the most precious 
and most acceptable." As a notable counterpart to this 
picture let me remind you of what happened some years 
ago. When a thoughtful African prince sent a request 
to the present sovereign of England to know by what 
means her realm had been elevated to such a pitch of 
grandeur, her answer was given in the shape of an 
elegantly bound copy of the Holy Scriptures. Tell 
your master, " said she to the ambassador, " that in this 
book is hidden the secret of England's greatness." 

In the next place, God's word is like rain because it is 
quiet in its operations. To be quiet is not to be ineffi.- 
cient, but quite the contrary. The best soldiers are those 
who can advance to the charge in grim silence, depend- 
ing not on noisy powder but on the noiseless steel. All 
the great forces work quietly. When the mighty sun, 
whose influence reaches so far and so forcibly, mounts 
upward to the Zenith, it is in absolute silence. The pro- 
phet Hosea seizes upon this natural feature, and with, 
especial felicity for our present purpose connects it with 



Il8 GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 

the falling rain as a symbol of the coming of Clirist : 
" His going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall 
come unto us as the rain, as the former and latter rain 
unto the earth." The soft and silent way in which tlie 
dawn swells into midday and the rain comes down 
affords a remarkable figure of the manner in which God's 
words descend upon the hearts of men. 

Gravitation is another mighty force whose work is 
done quietly. All the planets wheel in their orbits, 
subject to its potent sway, and they move in harmoni- 
ous silence. Micah has set forth God's word as the 
centre of spiritual gravitation in that sublime passage 
which Isaiah himself did not hesitate to copy : In the 
last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the 
house of the Lord shall be established in the tops of 
the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills, 
and people shall flow unto it, for the law shall go forth 
of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 
And Christ taking up this thought interprets this pro- 
phecy by the words ; " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
men unto me." 

Tlie increase of plants by growth furnishes another 
example of a great force working silently. Massive 
foundations and huge boulders have been rent asunder 
by a little seed striking its roots into a crevice of the 
rock and swelling till the bars of adamant were broken. 
Such seems to have been the case with Lydia whose 
heart was not so hardened by commerce but that the 
seed falling from the hand of Paul found a crevice, 
where it sprouted and grew till all resistance was over- 
come, and so the Lord " opened " her heart by the quiet 
operation of his preached word. 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



119 



Bat the most striking passage, aside from tlie text, 
where this truth is enforced is to be found in the open- 
ing notes of that swanhke song which closes the life of 
Moses: " Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and 
hear, earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine 
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as tlie dew, 
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the 
showers upon the grass ; because I will publish the 
name of the Lord." Could anything be more beautiful? 

One day in the childhood of Alexander of Eussia, his 
father Nicholas noticed that he was looking sad and 
thoughtful and he asked his son of what he was think- 
ing. " Of the poor serfs," said the boy, " and when I 
get to be Czar I am going to set them free." Then 
Nicholas was troubled and all St. Petersburgh with him. 
They asked the child how such a notion came into his 
head and what led him to feel so deep an interest in the 
welfare of the serfs. Mark well his answer. "Why, I 
got it from reading the Bible and hearing it explained, 
for it teaches me that all men are brothers." By com- 
mand of the Czar the subject was then forbidden to be 
broached in the hearing of the Czarowitz and it was 
hoped that the influence and opinions which prevailed 
in tlie royal court would gradually correct the boyish 
notions of the young prince. But this expectation was 
vain. The early impressions of the little bo}'' grew 
deeper and stronoer like "the seed growing secretly," 
and when at last the great Nicholas died and Alexander 
was placed upon his father's throne, he called the wise 
statesmen of the land to his counsels, and a plan of 
emancipation was formed ; and the imperial ukase went 
forth which abolished serfdom forever throughout the 



I20 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



Eussian Empire. It is in this way that God works won- 
ders, by the quiet but powerful operations of his word. 
The great fact that God has " made of one blood all 
nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the 
eartli," lodged like an incorruptible seed in the heart of 
that young prince, germinated there, growing with his 
growth, and strengthening with his strength, till at last 
it budded and blossomed and brought forth the blessed 
fruit of liberty for millions of once despised and down- 
trodden slaves. 

Again, God's word is like rain because of its copious 
supply. Consider the vast amount of water that remains 
after the thirst of nature is fully quenched, and that rolls 
to the sea through the channels of the St. Lawrence, 
the Mississippi and the Amazon on this Western Hemis- 
phere, and of the Yenisei, the Yolga, and the Zambesi 
in the old world. Think of the Nile, that mysterious 
river, that maintains its volume unimpaired without the 
aid of a single tributary through fifteen hundred miles 
of smiling verdure which, but for it, would be covered 
with yellow sand! Such is the stream flowing from the 
throne of God to bless mankind. It is fed mysteriously 
from the fountains of Deity, it fertilizes ground that 
would else be a desert, and it condescends to receive no 
tributary from human sources to swell its mighty and 
beneficent current. David makes much of this compari- 
son in the sixty-fifth Psalm : " Thou visitest the earth 
and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river 
of God, which is full of water. Thou crownest the 
year with thy goodness and thy paths drop fatness." 

Then, too, how true it is, that God sends his word like 
his rain "on the fust and the unjust." There is one 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



121 



apparent exception to tliis. The Jews are like Gideon's 
fleece. Once they alone were wet with the dew of God's 
word, while all the world around was dry, but now they 
alone are parched while the rain-prophets of mercy trav- 
erse the globe exclaiming in the words of Jeremiah : 
" earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord ; " 
and of Isaiah : " Ho, every one that thirstetb come ye to 
the waters ! " But even the Jews shall be restored, 
when the " fulness of the Gentiles is come in." 

Finally God's word is like rain because it is seasonable 
in its approach and consequently always in demand. The 
world has not yet outgrown the need of rain, and until 
it becomes independent of God's bountiful hand, it will 
be in need of communications from his mouth. It may 
be, as one has conjectured, that we shall outgrow the 
Bible and that when we get to heaven the only one to be 
seen, will lie near the throne just as now in a museum 
we have a lamp, exhumed from Herculaneum or Nine- 
veh, and we look at it and say how poor a light 
it must have given, compared with our modern lamps. 
So perhaps the Bible which is a lamp to our feet in this 
world may excite our interest to all eternity by the con- 
trast between its comparatively feeble light and the 
illumination of heaven. " But at least while time endures 
though the grass wither and the pyramids crumble, yet 
the word of our God shall stand," and even supposing the 
Bible to be superseded in heaven, we shall still be depen- 
dent on God's word. For the Bible is that word spoken 
as it were in lisping accents, to accommodate our childish 
minds ; and when we grow to the stature of the perfect 
man, though we " put away childish things," we shall 
not put away our need of divine instructions. Increase 



122 



GOD^S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



as we may in discernment, capacity, and retentiveness, 
we shall never trench on the prerogatives of Deity, nor 
be otherwise disposed toward God, than as the earth to 
the clouds, and the flowers to the sun. There are parts 
of the Bible which we caimot conceive the possibility 
of outgrowing. When shall the one hundred forty-sixth 
Psalm be inappropriate. " Praise ye the Lord. Praise 
the Lord my soul. While I live will I praise the 
Lord. I will sing praises unto my God, wdiile I have my 
being." The same thought is hymned by Addison. 

" Through every period of my life, 

Thy goodness I'll pursue, 
And after death in distant worlds, 

The glorious theme renew. 
Through all eternity to thee, 

A joyful song I'll raise ; 
But O eternity's too short 

To show forth all thy praise." 

Let me now urge upon 3'ou all, dear friends, the neces- 
sity of listening intently for the voice of God. " He that 
hath an ear, let him hear." " Sow to yourselv^es in right- 
eousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, 
for it is time to seek tlie Lord till he come and rain 
righteousness upon you." Bear with me also in point- 
ing out the danger of receiving the grace of God in vain. 
There is a dreadful woe pronounced upon those who re- 
ceive the advantages of God's word and yet produce 
nothing but evil. " For the earth which drinketh in the 
rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs 
meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing 
from God : but that which beareth thorns and briars is 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RATN. 



123 



rejected and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be 
burned." Beware of provoking God to command the 
clouds that they rain no rain upon you. 

Further let me emphasize tlie responsibility resting 
heavily upon every one here to echo God's word, to 
gather up the sound as it fails on our favored ears, and 
transmit it to the ends of the earth. " Faith cometh by 
hearing and hearing by the word of God." " The Lord 
spoke the word, great was the company of those that 
published it." Answering to this responsibility, Bible 
societies are formed and sustained. During the past 
year the society, of which the Greene County Bible Soci- 
ety is an auxiliary branch, has issued nearly a million 
and a half copies of the scriptures in whole or in part. 
I trust every one of you had some hand in that good 
work. If not, if any of you has not in this, or some 
other way, helped to report the "joyful sound " of sal- 
vation in ears to which it was "strange sweet music," 
then you have come short of your bounden duty and 
your most blessed privilege. brethren ! " As cold water 
to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." 

There are two great commissions intrusted to men 
which together involve the establishment of universal 
peace and happiness throughout creation. One was 
given in Eden when God blessed the newly created race 
and delivered to them a title to the earth in fee simple, 
saying, " Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it." The other was given at Bethany 
after God had come down to recreate the race in his own 
image, when he once more asserted his right to the " ut- 
termost parts of the earth for his possession," saying, 
" Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 



124 



GOD'S WORD LIKE RAIN. 



creature." The man wlio subdues the earth, by causing 
two blades of grass to grow where only oce grew before, 
is hailed as a public benefactor ; what then shall be the 
honor of those who convey even a few drops of the river 
of life to irrigate some barren soul? Yerily, " the wil- 
derness and the solitarj* place shall be glad for them, and 
the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." "Drop 
down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down 
righteousness ; let the earth open and let them bring 
forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together." 
" For as the raincometh down and the snow from heaven 
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and 
maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to 
the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall my word be 
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return 
unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please 
and shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 



IX. 



GOD'S BUILDING. 

" Ye are God's buildiDg." — 1 Cor. iii. 9. 

HOLY writ makes use of many troj^es to convey trutli. 
This is perhaps the best explanation of the remark- 
able facility with which the Bible lends itself to translation. 
Metaphors appeal with equal force to the savage and the 
savant. In no other way can knowledge be imparted to 
all classes so successfully as hj using emblematic repre- 
sentations. For example, the close union of believers 
with Christ is forcibly taught by calling the church a 
body, of which Christ is the head, a bride, of whom 
Christ is the husband, and branches, of which Christ is 
the stock. Again its diversity of parts and community 
of interests are made strikingly apparent by calling it a 
city, a family, or a flock. We are impressed by its stabil- 
ity under the figure of a mountain or of a pillar, and by 
its productiveness under that of a vineyard. But all of 
these ideas, and more, by a singular felicity of language 
are combined in a single clause of the verse from which 
the text is taken. The chapter is replete with figures 
of speech, so that if they were all expurged there would 
be not a line remaining ; but it seems as if a whole swarm 
of honey laden thoughts had made its hive in this ninth 
verse. "For we are laborers together with God, ye are 
God's husbandry, God's building.'' 

By way of developing the truth contained in thislat- 

125 



126 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



ter title of the cliurcli, let us examine the meaning of tlie 
symbol employed. Perhaps we may thus obtain a fre^sher 
and more impressive view, than ordinary, of our relations 
to each other and to our divine Lord. Not to be technically 
minute, mention will be made of six things which per- 
tain generally to buildings, viz: its Architect, plan, 
material, construction, magnitude and purpose. 

Every building must have an architect, and in propor- 
tion to his skill will be the beauty and utility of tl e 
building. The architect mentioned in the text is God. 
When the Jews reproachfully asked, "Is not this tlie 
carpenter?" they thought an effectual bar was raised 
against all claims of Divinity on the part of Christ, but 
they were profoundly mistaken. He was indeed the 
Carpenter, the Architect, who laid the foundations of 
the earth when the morning stars sang together, and who 
appeared in humble guise upon his own footstool to lay 
the foundation of a nobler and more enduring structure. 

The character of an architect may be inferred from 
what he does. When we look upon the cathedrals of 
London and Kome, called after the names of Peter and 
Paul, we are convinced that none but a master builder 
could produce such masterpieces. So the majesty, 
power and wisdom of God are conspicuous in his work 
of creation. When we consider the host of heaven we 
have an overwhelming sense of God's excellent glory. 
But wonderful as creation is to contemplate, it is by no 
means the crowning work of God. " A workman is 
known by his chips," and the material universe is com- 
posed, so to speak, of the chips struck from the mighty 
rocks and timbers which God was hewing into shape for 
the texture of a building which might be worthy to be 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



127 



called witli reverence bis masterpiece. His name is ex- 
cellent in all the earth and the heavens are bright with 
his glory and we may with manifest })ropriety speak of 
the universe as a home of many mansions prepared by a 
kind Creator for the dwelling place of his animate crea- 
tures. But if we stop at this point we shall be guilty of 
robbing God of his highest claim to worship. For this 
reason among others, I have a quarrel with any society 
such as that which has the past week been flaunting its 
insignia and mumbling its mummery in our city, whose 
acknowledgment of God ascribes to him no more exalted 
title than the Supreme Architect of the Universe. For 
the orbs that are marshaled through space by his omni- 
potent hand, vast and glorious and full of wonders though 
they be, are yet not fit to be reckoned as so many bricks 
in the far grander building referred to in the text. This 
will be more evident as we proceed. 

The plan of this building is not such as would be 
adopted by another builder with whom uniformity means 
simply monotony and inconvenience. For the length, 
and the breadth and the height of God's building are equal, 
that is to say, it is in the form of an exact cube. Such, 
by express command, was the shape of the most holy 
place in the tabernacle and temple and such is the des- 
cription given of the holy city which John saw descend- 
ing out of heaven from God. The meaning of th's 
symbolic plan is in one word, perfection, — the perfection 
of order, stability and completeness. 

God's method is not as man's. Buildings made with 
hands are necessarily imperfect, their shape depends upon 
circumstances, they are subject to variations and they 
call for constant repairs and additions. For example, 



128 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



take the famous churches already mentioned. That of 
Rome, grew out of Michael Angelo's ambition to surpass 
the pagan Pantheon. Said he, " I'll hang the Pantheon 
in the air." This determined the shape of the dome and 
that of course dominated the building. The London 
church was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren to make it 
correspond to a certain portico erected by Inigo Jones. 
Moreover his plan was altered to suit the whim of the 
Duke of York, afterward James II, who wanted the inte- 
ior so arranged that he might conveniently introduce papal 
ceremonies when he should have the power. We are 
told that Wren shed tears when speaking of the change 
he was compelled to make. I suppose there was never 
yet a house built without changes either at the time or 
subsequently. But God's building is begun, continued, 
and ended on a plan of the utmost regularity, which is 
never in the least modified by circumstances, nor altered 
to suit the requirements of different generations. His 
design is an absolute model, admitting of no improve- 
ment and consequently of no imitation ; neither a copy 
nor a continuation, but sui generis; as fair as it is 
unique and as lasting as beautiful ; an immutable em- 
blem of order, stability and completeness. He is the 
rock ; his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment. 

O how unlike the complex works of man 
Heaven's easy artless unincumbered plan. 
No meretricious graces to beguile, 
No clustering ornaments to clog the pile, 
From ostentation as from weakness free, 
It stands like the cerulean arcli we see, 
Majestic in its own simplicity." 



GOD'S BUILD ING. 



129 



Two kinds of material compose God's building, the one 
supremely good, the other supremely bad. Says Paul to 
the Ephesians, " Ye are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner stone," and Peter adds, "Ye also as living 
stones are built up a spiritual house." When we think 
what it is to become the corner stone of this building, 
that it is to be subjected to the line and plummet of 
judgment, to be assailed by the hail sweeping down from 
above and the waters surging up from below; to be a 
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to be sunk in 
the mine of humilation and made the only support of an 
accursed race, in plain English, to be exposed to the in- 
gratitude of man, to the malice of devils and to the frown 
of God, all uniting their forces for a desperate assault, 
when we think of this it seems incredible that the eter- 
nal and ever blessed Father could bring himself to per- 
mit such shame and degradation to befall his well be- 
loved Son. Rather let mankind sink into Tophet than 
be upheld by the prostrate form of tlie Son of God. But 
no, not so, but thus saith the Lord God, "Behold I lay in 
Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious 
corner stone, a sure foundation; he that build eth thereon 
shall not be in haste to flee." Then let us call upon our 
souls and all within us to bless and magnify the Lord for 
his unspeakable gift of such costly material to be employed 
for our support and safety. 

Nor will our wonder and gratitude diminish when 
we think upon the worthless material chosen for the su- 
perstructure. His own Son to be the sure foundation 
and graceless rebels to be built upon him ! Was ever 
before a building composed of such strange and diverse 
9 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



elements ? If it be abasement to the verge of infamy for 
Christ to become the cornerstone, surely it is promotion 
to the verge of infinity, for sinful man to be joined witli 
Him in such a fabric. Yerily the architect \Yho can 
utilize such unlikely materials and harmonize such dis- 
cordant elements, bears not in vain the name of Won- 
derful and Counsellor. Verily, -verily, his building shall 
stand the imperishable and unimpeachable monument 
of almighty power, transcendent skill, and infinite com- 
passion. 

It needs not in this connection to tell how the corner 
stone was laid by clothing God's Son with flesh and 
heaping the sins of a world upon his crucified person, 
but we may linger for a moment to describe the process 
by which the other stones are fitted to their places. 
First of all, they are imbedded in the quarry of sinful 
nature. Look, brethren, at the hole of the pit whence 
we are digged, and the rock whence we are hewn. By 
the hammer and fire of God's word, by the drill of pre- 
cept upon precept, and the blasting volleyed thunder of 
tlie law we are riven from the state of nature. Then 
the chisel of chastisement wielded by a firm but loving 
hand cuts the rough blocks into the requisite propor- 
tions. Not all alike, but just as each is provided for in 
the plan, so the great Artificer shapes them out. The 
living stones may shrink from the mallet and crj^ out at 
the heavy and constant blows, but the work goes stead- 
ily on till all that is unsuitable and improper has been 
removed, and the precise pattern of the wise Master- 
builder, for each particular part, has been reproduced. 
Then the hand of Providence lays hold of the shapely 
stones and shifts them about hither and thither appar- 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



entlj without aim but really in close pursuance of tLe 
great design, till at length they are polished after the 
similitude of a palace, and adjusted in the wall exactly 
where they belong. 

Then they are fastened together by the influence of 
brotherly love, which emanates in a mysterious magnetic 
way from the chief corner stone, just as a powerful mag- 
net imparts its virtue to each piece of iron which it 
touches and through these to others and so on along a 
series whose extent is limited only by the weakness of 
the original magnet. In this case tliere is no weakness. 
The love of God shed abroad from Christ through the 
lively stones of his spiritual temple, is no untempered 
mortar to relax its grip at tlie fury of stormy wind or 
angry flood, or great hailstones, but a cementing force 
that defies all opposition, so that stones and mortar, 
foundation and superstructure coalesce and constitute 
one homogeneous mass. When laid on this foundation 
rock, every individual believer becomes a partaker of its 
nature. The experience of every saved soul is similar 
to that of Peter. When Christ is revealed to it and con- 
fessed by it, then God says to that soul, Thou art a rock 
and upon this bed rock I will build thee into my church 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." " Who 
shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribula- 
tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
or peril, or sword ? " Nay, there is not any creature able 
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. 

Consider the magnitude of this building. A work is 
sometimes estimated by the length of time it takes to 
be executed. "Forty and six years," said the Jews, 



132 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



"was this temple in building." Five hundred years is 
counted well spent in erecting such an edifice as tlie 
cathedral of Milan or Cologne. Millions of years, say 
the geologists, were employed in preparing the earth for 
the habitation of man. But by w^hat standard of niens- 
urement shall we compute the time during which God s 
building has already been in process of construction? 
It as far surpasses the reckoning of geologists foi' tlie 
preparation of thi^ planet as their computation exceeds 
that of the Jews for the building of Herod's temple. 
How vast such a building must be. 

Or judge by the number of workmen. If I were to 
tell you of a building in Philadelphia which lias 
employed two thousand men for the last ten years, and 
which is surrounded by scaffolding containing more than 
a million feet of lumber, what an immense work you 
would conceive it to be ! But such a city hall is as 
nothing, in comparison with God's building. Think 
of the workmen God employs. The Holy Ghost does 
not disdain to take part in this stupendous enterprise : 
legions of angels, whose powers can neither be described 
nor conceived, find here no lack of room to exert them- 
selves, and myriads of human hands have lent their 
energies to bring it forward. Not that all are willing 
helpers, for as one has said, "Scholars, merchants, kinps, 
heroes, tyrants, have labored for this cause without 
knowing it, but consciously or not, and willingly or not, 
they have been God's agents for the accomplishment of 
this task." How colossal such a building must be! 

Judge of its size by the amount of scaffolding 
demanded. For the nearest approach to an adequate 
unit of measurement will be found, perhaps, in the char- 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



acter and amount of this scaffolding, which is nothing 
less than all space and all time. It is a subhme thought, 
wiiich the old tlieologians hand down to ns, that all the 
stars in their courses and all the ages in their revolu- 
tions, have as their prinae object, the furtherance of 
God's scheme of redemption. The incarnate Son of God 
spilling his own blood as the price of human salvation, 
is the central jSgure around which seons and systems 
revolve, as obedient and dependent satellites. 

Time and space are terms of no small magnitude to 
our mortal comprehension. We stand in awe at the 
very thought of them. When we try to recall so 
recent an event as the Creation, bewilderment seizes us, 
when we look abroad upon the heavens, humility clothes 
■OS, but with God a thousand years are as one day and a 
thousand suns are as one clod of the valley. To Him 
ages and worlds are but the circumstantial beams and 
boards on which his workmen stand to prosecute their 
labors. They may bafSe and confuse our weak faculties, 
just as the scaffolding prevents a good view of the 
growing building; but when the angel plants his feet on 
land and sea and swears that time shall be no longer; 
when the firmament is rolled up as a scroll and the earth 
cast aside like a worn out garment; in a word, when the 
scaffolding is taken down, then shall God's building 
appear in all its solid worth, " an eternal excellency, the 
joy of many generations." 

We have noticed the Architect, plan, material, construc- 
tion and magnitude of this building; notice now its pur- 
pose. No ordinary purpose will correspond to such 
unusual preparations. A palace implies a King, and a 
a temple suggests a God. This building demands the 



134 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



*' Holiest among the mighty and the mightiest among 
tbe Holy." The charge of wastefulness and folly has 
been preferred against the Architect of this building. 
"To what purpose," exclaim tlie apostles of utility "is 
all this incalculable expense of time and space and care 
and .energy? Why should the Triune God, and angels, 
planets, and human beings engage in such a work of 
supererogation? Especially, why should this small 
world and these insignificant creatures have so much 
attention, when, for aught we know, there are other 
spheres moi'e im})ortant, and other creatures more numer- 
ous and needy, on whose behalf this great effort might 
more fitly be put forth ? " The answer is not hard to 
find. 

Put the question in another form. " To what pur- 
pose," said the apostle of thrift among the twelve, " was 
this waste? This ointment might have been sold for 
much and given to the poor." He forgot that giving to 
the poor was only a roundabout way of lending to the 
Lord, whereas the act he condemned was giving directly 
to the Lord. So to all objectors against the outlay on 
this building we can say, The Master hath need of it." 
The Lord himself hath chosen this building for his own 
abode. This is the purpose for which it is named and 
who will say it does not fitly correspond to the magnifi- 
cence of the structure? As to that poor quibble that 
the earth affords too small a site for such a big founda- 
tion, and too straitened an arena for such a contest as is 
alleged to be waged between the powers of light and of 
darkness, let it be exploded by an illustration. Travel 
with me to Syria and pause at Gaugamela. Look 
around, the plain is not yqyj large nor very fertile. 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



There are farms in this country tliat would sell for more 
than all the land in sight. Oidy a few miles of level 
sand! What right has this little spot to claim prece- 
dence of whole realms and continents? Because in the 
month of October, 331 B. C, there was laid here the 
foundation of an empire that embraced all Asia. Hei-e 
was fought between the Greek and the Mede the decisive 
battle of Arbela. 

The Eubicon, you know, was .a small stream, and 
Marathon was a narrow plain and at Lodi it was 
only a bridge, but it does not taice much ground, 
my brethren, to be the fulcrum on which Alexander, or 
Caesar, or Napoleon, shall prop a throne to rule the 
world. Yes, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
will dwell with them and they shall be his people and 
God himself shall be with them and be their God. " But 
will God in very deed dwell with men? " How can we 
doubt it, when we believe that from eternity he has beeq. 
ordering all things for this sole purpose? "Having 
made known unto us the mystery of His will according 
to His good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, 
that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ," of whic^ 
the poet sang, as 

" One far off divine event, 

To which the whole creation moves.'* 

One of the first reflections suggested by this subject is 
that believers are not simply passive in the making of 
God's building, " For we are laborers together with 
God." But this fact redounds more to the glory of the 
great Architect than to the honor of his assistants, for it 
is by his grace that we are permitted to be his helpers. 



136 



GOD'S BUILDIXG. 



"Even he sliall build the temple of tlie Lord and he 
shall bear the glory.'' 

Again we may learn that Bible symbols are not gov- 
erned by the canons of human taste. As Trench has 
well remarked, A city constituting a perfect cube is sim- 
ply inconceivable to us, but the divine seer did not care 
that we should conceive it; he was only careful to 
express the fact that this is a city which sLall never be 
moved. To this, as in so many other cases, hov/ the 
idea would appear when it clothed itself in an outward 
form, whether it could so clothe itself at all, and if it 
could, whether it would find favor and allowance at the 
bar of taste, as satisfying the conditions of beauty, this 
was not a consideration at all. This subordination of 
art to religion indicates a slighter perception of beauty 
in the Hebrew than in the Greek peihaps, but superiority 
in other and more important matters, a deeper religious 
earnestness, a feeling that the essence is above the form, 
a conviction that truth is more than beautj, and that 
everything must be sacrificed to this." 

Further, we may find encouragement in reflecting 
upon the transformation of bad material into good. We 
are so often tempted to give up in despair at our repeated 
failures to expel indwelling sin ; to cry out, "There is 
no soundness and no help in us. What is the use of 
continuing such a hopeless struggle? " If it depended 
on our own efforts to achieve a place in God's building, 
we might very well despond ; but w^e are not left to such 
bungling workmanship. 

" There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
Ilough hew them how we will,'* 



GOD'S BUILDING. 



and again, they say, " best men are moulded out of faults," 
and a higher authority than Shakespeare declares, "O 
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in nje is thiue 
help." 

Still farther we may reflect with profit upon the essen- 
tial unity exhibited in God's building. As Ja}^ says, 
" The parts of a temple are different, but they are all 
necessary. The door cannot say to the window, or the 
wall to the roof, I have no need of thee. Some parts 
are more near, and some more remote, some more con- 
spicuous and some more concealed ; but they all sub- 
serve their appointment ; they all sustain the most 
intimate mutual relation, and by their junction form one 
perfect building. ' We are all one in Christ Jesus,' ' In 
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth 
unto an holy temple in the Lord. ' " 

When we consider the magnitude of this build- 
ing compared with the things that are seen, we 
may be allowed to indulge a desire to be clothed 
upon with our house which is from heaven. Some 
one crossing the Atlantic said to his fellow passen- 
gers, " there is but a plank between us and Eternity." 
The same may be said by all who are making the voyage 
of life. Time and space are after all nothing but planks 
between us and Eternity. And the planks are growing 
rotten day by day. They cannot hold us up much longer. 
"As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth there is but 
a step between me and death." That step must shortly 
be taken. The supports of this life are gradually giving 
way. Soon this body shall be lowered into its narrow 
bed and this soul shall take its plunge in the shoreless 
ocean. Dear brethren shall we tremble at this prospect ? 



138 



GOD'S BUILDING, 



God forbid! "For we know that if our eartlilj house of 
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 

Finally, we may learn that the best use which 
can possibly be made of any building, is to set it apart 
for the occupancy of God, The splendid palace of Hamp- 
ton Court was built by Cardinal Wolsey as a residence, 
but when it was completed its magnificence was such 
tliat he feared to incur the envy of both King and people 
by dwelling in it. So he gave it to his royal master. 
In like manner we should reflect that our redeemed 
bodies and oar regenerated characters are structures too 
grand to be appropriated exclusively to our own use. 
Let us present them a living sacrifice to God, and deem 
ourselves happy if He will deign to occupy what his 
grace alone can render meet for such a royal guest. 
" Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost? and j^e are not your own ; therefore glorify God 
in your body and in your spirit which are God's." 

Is there any one here who never surrendered his body 
to be a temple of the Holy Ghost ? By the happiness 
of entertaining God and by the danger of refusing 
hospitality to Him, I charge you, let the vow of David 
be your vow this day : " Surely I will not come into 
the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed ; I 
will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eye- 
lids until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation 
for the mighty God of Jacob." 



OUR GOD. 



** And thou ehalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : 
this is^the first commandment." — Mark xii. 30. 



OYE is the grandest passion of whicli any being is 



1 J capable. It is also the commonest, for it is the 
mother passion from which, with its partner hate, all 
other affections of the mind take their rise. It may be 
described as a mixture of perception, desire and impulse. 
The mind first recognizes a character of lovableness, 
then feels a desire of possession, and then goes out in 
utter self-abnegation to spend itself upon the beloved 
olject. Tnis separation of love into its constituent parts 
is well adapted to assist in the exposition of the first 
table of the law as it is summed up in the words of the 
text. Our Lord here brings to view the highest ex- 
pression of lovableness, which the human mind can 
apprehend, in the person of God, the infinite and eternal 
Jehovah. Moreover, it is implied that this object is 
within the reach of our possession, " thy God ; " and 
finally we are called upon, in tones of authority from 
which there is no appeal, to thorouiihly empty ourselves 
upon this most worthy object : "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God." Thus we are called to contemplate 
God in this threefold aspect as the object of perception, 
desire and impulse. Let us consider to-day first; 




139 



OUR GOD. 



Jeliovah as the Lovable Object, and secondly, th<i 
possession of this Object. I shall leave the discussion 
of the third head for some future time. 

Ill the preface to the tea commandments the divine 
Speaker announces His incommunicable name in order, 
as the catechism teaches, to impress the Israelites with 
the duty of careful obedience to His precepts. The 
same argument is employed repeatedly in scripture, not- 
ably in the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, where, to 
the number of no less than sixteen times, the name of 
God is insisted upon as a reason for obedience. It is not 
dif&cult to understand that He, who was before all 
things, by whom all things exist, and for whose pleasure 
they are and were created, has a right to command the 
creatures of His hand, and a double right, if that were 
possible, when they become the people of His choice. 
The necessity and propriety of implicit obedience are 
manifest from tlie declaration of his mysterious name, 
but obedience and love are vastly different things, and 
not to be required, one would think, on precisely tlie 
same terms. 

A slave may toil with diligence and obey with tremb- 
ling, because he knows that his master has all power 
and authority over him, but he does not therefore love 
his master. Eather he fears and hates him, and longs to 
break away. If the owner of a slave should say to him, 
" You must love me because I can do with you as I 
please," he would play the fool. Such power may very 
well require prompt and unquestioning obedience, but 
could never be expected to enforce affection. Yet the 
Lord declares by the mouth of Hosea, " I drew them 
with cords of a man, with bands of love." 



OUR GOD. 



141 



How coraes it that God is set forth in the same breath 
as the absolute, arbitrary, despot of our lives, and the 
lovable object of our affections ? The answer lies in 
this, that when, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we look 
upon God as revealed in this awful name, Jehovah, we 
perceive that he is not only the Creator of our bodies, 
but also the Inbreather of our souls. That is, we recog- 
nize together with the sovereignty of a Maker, the like- 
ness of a Father, and we feel a strong affinity with Him 
in whose image we are made. Dulled and smothered 
as our souls are, by the walls of clay in which for the 
present we are imprisoned, it is not till we catch sight 
of infinite being in God that we are able to interpret 
aright the strange yearnings of our own imperishable 
natures. When the soul apprehends God as infinite and 
self-existent, it perceives in a flash, that here is the one 
and only object in all the universe that is truly worth 
loving. Perhaps we never could have understood this, 
if God had not been pleased to humble himself, to take 
on our nature and be found in fashion as a man. But 
with this positive proof that Deity and humanity have 
enough in common to permit their residence together in 
one person, and a humnn person at that, we have no 
difficulty in believing that we also are made partakers 
of the divine nature. We can look upon the invisible 
God, the irresponsible author of our being, the absolute 
disposer of our fortunes, and see and feel that He is alto- 
gether lovely. 

Even the Pagans had some glimpse of this truth, 
for they named their highest conception of the Supreme 
not only the " First Good," and " First Perfect," but also, 
the " First Fair." To this same thought the apostle's 



142 



OUR GOD. 



argument seems to refer when speaking to the disciples 
of Zeno and Epicurus, on Mars Hill, for he describes God 
as the source and maintainer of life ; "In whom we live, 
and move, and have our being, as certain also of your 
own poets liave said, ' for we are also his offspring.' '' 
Now, if we are sprang from God, we ought to have a 
filial feeling toward him. But the fact that this feeling 
never did exist among Pagans, whose best account of the 
Godhead was, according to Plato, " That the mind could 
neither comprehend, nor language express him," and the 
further fact, that this feeling never does exist among the 
possessors of revelation until something more is known 
of Jehovah than Ilis infinity and eternity, make it evi- 
dent enough that somehow a great gulf has opened 
between us and the Father of our spirits, whereby dim- 
ness has come upon' our spiritual vision, because He 
dwelleth in a land very far off; in plain speech, that we 
are, by nature, sinful creatures, who can feel no attraction 
toward perfect holiness, and rebellious subjects, who can 
take no delight in infinite justice, and doomed criminals 
who can derive no satisfaction from the prospect of 
eternal existence. 

It is necessary therefore in order to draw out our 
souls toward God, that w^e recognize Him not only as the 
high and holy Inhabitant of Eternity, but also as the 
Almighty Interposer and Deliverer who brings us from 
the power of darkne.^s, into the kingdom of his dear Son. 
This double character of creator and covenant God, has 
been derived, as one has said, " From the historical use 
and develo))ment of the name Jehovah. It was given as 
the seal of the covenant, as the ground of the gi-eat 
deliverance from Egyptian bondage." The national ex- 



OUR GOD. 



143 



istence rested upon it. The vitality of Israel was guaran- 
teed by the eternity of Israel's God. The bush that 
burnt and was not consumed, was the emblem of Ilim 
wlio gives and is none the poorer, who works unwearied, 
who pours forth life and light through all ages to all 
creatures and diminishes no whit the fulness of the foun- 
tain of life which is with Him. Here, then, is the fii st 
requisite for obeying the text, viz: the apprehension of 
Jehovah as the God of creation and of the convenant; 
Maker and Preserver of all things ; to whom we are allied 
by affinities of nature and bound by invincible obliga- 
tions. 

But this apprehension by itself, is not enough. It 
might well make us tremble, it might even fill us with 
desire, but it could never make us love, or lose ourselvos 
in, God. Let us therefore turn our attention to the fact 
of possession implied in the expression, " Thy God." 

It is very remarkable that no one ventured to appro- 
priate this title to his own use, by changing "thy" into 
*' my," until the time of David. He seems to have been 
the first to say to God, in express terms, "Thou art my 
God." This was certainly not the fault of the language 
which the Lord used to his people. Scores of times lie 
described himself as belonging to them. In onechapter the 
familiar formula is eight times re])eated, " I am Jehovah, 
thy God." Over and over He calls himself the God of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jact)b, 
repeating the assurance separately with each name. Yet 
neither patriarch nor prophet, for thousands of years, 
ever gathered courage to say " Lord thou art my God." 
Surely in this matter, they came short of their privilege, 
and their duty. 



144 



OUR GOD. 



But how can mortals be said to possess God ? In three 
ways at least. One is by faith, which enables the be- 
liever to appropriate God in the person of our Lord 
Jesns Christ. "He that acknowledgeth the Son hatli tlie 
Father also." "He that abideth in the doctrine of 
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." To an 
observing and reflecting mind, this is a staggering 
thought. When we consider tlie heavens the work of 
His fingers, the moon and the stars which take their laws 
from His lips; when we sum up what we know of this 
vast round world with its varied forms of life, and its 
many prodigies of nature, its volcanoes and cataracts, its 
mountains and oceans, and multiply all this by the 
myriads of spheres that people surrounding space, — and 
when OD the other hand, we remark the brevity and 
frailty of human life, how subject it is to disease and 
decay, how long it is in maturing, how limited in its 
scope and how liable to premature cessation, and further, 
how inclined it is tOAvard evil, and how averse from good, 
how full of selfishness, impiety and crime, then indeed 
our wonder passes all bounds. "Lord, what is man that 
thou art mindful of him ? " Is it not amazing that weak 
mortals in the presence of such power, grandeur, vastness, 
and duration, should be invested with dominion over nil 
these things ? 

But this is a small part of his dignity. Although 
it is manifest that God, in putting all things in 
subjection under the representative man, is himself 
exempted from submission, yet He does not exempt him- 
self from possession. It is very surprising that He 
should take any favorable notice of man; it is incompre- 
hensible, that he should admit helpless rebels to his con- 



OUR GOD. 



145 



fidence, and give them a share inliis dominion. But "he 
goes far beyond this, and allows them alliance with his 
family and a title to his person. He even volunteers a 
sure pledge of His good faith in promising the most un- 
heard of favors. He covers with a thick veil the native 
glory of His co-equal Son, He wraps the pure essence of 
Deity round with the swaddling clothes of human flesh 
and He sends among men as an ambassador, in the 
express image of man, one who is the brightness of His 
own glory, and the express image of His own person. 

"We are called upon to believe that the Framer 
and Buler of a universe appeared in fashion as one of us, 
that He confined His effulgent illimitable being within a 
mortal body and restricted the exercise of His omnipo- 
tence to an insignificant part of one of the smallest 
among the many worlds, that were made and governed 
by His power. We are to believe that this divine 
human person kept the law perfectly, and made atone- 
ment for sin, so that the way is reopened wherein men 
may pass from earth to heaven. If we can accept tiiis in 
spite of its strangeness, its opposition to all the teachings 
of carnal sense and experience, then we have an appro- 
priating faith, and God is our God forever. We can fall 
in contrite self-surrender before the Saviour of all men and 
cry out in tones of full conviction and well grounded 
confidence, "My Lord and my God." It is true, we have 
not the same evidence that Thomas had, when he used 
these words, but we have something better. We have 
that faith which is itself " the substance of things hoped 
for," and we have that added blessedness ascribed to those 
who "have not seen and yet have believed." "There- 
fore, being justified by faith we have peace with God 
10 



146 



OUR GOD. 



through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also Ave linve 
access by faith into this grace wliereiii we staud and 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 

Another mode of possessing God is by the indwelling 
of the Holy Spirit. In the former dispensation God's 
dwelling was in the Holy of Holies, yet even this was 
sufficient to give Israel a peculiar claim upon God. Since 
the day of Pentecost, we have the spirit dwelling not 
only in the church at large, as a glorious temple built of 
living stones, but also in believers as individuals, whose 
single and several bodies become each a temple of the 
living God. 

My brethren, let us rise to the full blessedness of the 
truth that our bodies are temples whose sacred fire, once 
kindled from heaven, never goes out in darkness ; where 
God the Father and God the Son are always present in 
the person of God the Holy Ghost. Let us pray that we 
may be more mindful of this fact; that c^very thing 
which keeps us from realizing the abiding presence of 
God may be removed, and that every thought, feeling, 
and wish in our hearts may speedily be brought under 
the blessed control of the indwelling Spirit. Being filled 
with the Spirit and led of the Spirit and living in the 
Spirit let us resign ourselves to His guidance, obey his 
motions and walk in his paths. Having God himself 
for our God, let us keep that good thing committed unto 
us by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. Thus we 
possess God in the person of Christ and in the Holy 
Spirit. 

Still another way in which we may be said to possess 
God is by virtue of that covenant grant in His word 
wherein He makes over to us whatever He is and what- 



OUR GOD, 



M7 



ever He has to be ours freely and eternall3^ Such strong 
laQo-uao-e I find in Fisher's catechism. Whatever He has 
^vhich we can possibly need or use He puts at our dis- 
posal in the promise, " All things are yours." What- 
ever He is in one and all of the three persons, He gives to 
us. He is our Father, our Eedeemer, our Sanctifier, as 
absolutely as if He had existed from all eternity for no 
other purpose. Pie makes over to us "All His glorious 
attributes and excellencies. His infinity to be the extent 
of our inheritance, His eternity to be the duration of 
our happiness, His unchangeableness to be the rock of 
our rest, His wisdom to direct us, His power to protect 
us, His holiness to sanctify us. His justice to justify and 
preserve us. His goodness to reward us and His truth to 
secure us in the accomplishment of all his promises.*' 

What a large possession is ours! How indescribably 
great ! The earth is but a point compared with the uni- 
verse, the universe is but a point compared with what 
we know of God, and what we know of Him is but a 
point compared with that which is yet to be revealed : 
Eye hath not seen it,^ear bath not heard it, heart of man 
hath not conceived it. And all this heritage which can- 
not be measured by thought nor outlined by imagination, 
is wrapped up and delivered over to believers in one lit- 
tle word, " Thij God." It can not be forfeited, or lost, or 
stolen, or alienated in any possible way. It is beyond 
the reach of moth and rust to corrupt and of thieves to 
break through and steal. It is " an inheritance incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
heaven for you who are kept by the power of God 
through faith unto Salvation." Blessed are the people 



148 



OUR GOD. 



that are in sacli a case ; " Yea blessed are the people 
whose God is the Lord." 

In conclusion two practical questions. The first is 
this. Do you perceive God as a very lovable Object? 
What is your thought of God ? Your first instinctive 
thought ? A dying child said, " Papa, when I get up to 
heaven and see God I'll just put my arms around His neck 
and kiss Him." Are you educating yourself up to this 
standard of what is truly lovable? God is a spirit; are 
you taking delight in the flesh ? God is infinite ; do you 
cling to the finite ? Are you ready to bid the earth a 
glad farewell and say, 

Behold I go wliere I do know 
Infinity to dwell ? " 

God is eternal. Do you train the tendrils of your 
heart around earthly props, or do you fasten upon the 
unseen and live by the powers of the world to come? 
Can you adopt the language of the old Scotch song : 

"I am far frae my hame, and I'm weary aftenwhiles, 
For the lang'd-for hame-bringing, and my Father's welcome 
smiles, 

I'll ne'er be fa' content, until my een do see 
Tlie gowden gates of heav'n an' my ain countrie. 
The earth is fleck 'd wi' flowers, mony-tinted fresh and gay ; 
The birdies warble blithely, for my Father made them sae ; 
But these sichts an' these soun's will as naelhing be to me, 
"When I hear the angels singing in my ain countrie. 
I've his gude word of promise, that some gladsome day the 
king. 

To his ain royal palace, liis banished hame, will bring. 
Wi' een an' wi' heart running owre we shall see 
^ The King in his beauty,' an' our ain countrie." 



OUR COD. 



149 



The second of these questions is perhaps more diffi- 
cult to answer. Do you look upon God not only as 
supremely desirable bat also as actually in your posses- 
sion? Do you know that you are the temple of God 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, and do you 
act accordingly ? Or, is Christ with you as he was with 
the disciples on the lake? They carried Clirist, and yet 
tliey were in terror and despair. Not till the boat was 
settling for its last plunge, did they bethink themselves 
that the Saviour was on board. 

I have recently read an account of an immense treas- 
ure possessed by the Sultan of Turkey, but not avail- 
able for his use. It is called the " Treasure of Islam," 
and is made of the offerings of pilgrims at sacred shrines 
for many ages. It is designed for the defense of the 
Moslem faith only in the last extremity. To this 
nominal possession, but real destitution of the Sultan, 
the spiritual condition of these disciples on Gahlee, and 
of many professing Christians to-day, may sadly be com- 
pared. There is an untold treasure in actual possession, 
but instead of drawing upon it for their daily need, they 
act as if it must be reserved for the very hour and arti- 
cle of dissolution. When they are reduced to the last 
extremity they will realize, so to speak, on their securi- 
ties. When they enter the valley of the shadow of 
death they will cry mightily to God and His presence 
will be their safety. But they forget that the good Shep- 
herd heals and feeds and guards his flock day by day. 
Is this your condition? brethren, let us follow the 
example of David and appropriate God. Let us say 
with him, " For this God is our God for ever and ever ; 
he will be our guide even unto death." 



XT. 



OUE SUN AND SHIELD. 



"For the Lord God is a sun aud shield ; the Lord will give grace 
and glory ; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk 
uprightly." — Fsalm Ixxxiv. 11. 



I creatures born into the world, is a human infant. 
There is not a beast in the field, a fowl in the air or a 
fish in the sea so unable to supply its own wants and to 
protect itself against its enemies. This is a common- 
place, but I think it can be hfted from the level of a 
commonplace, bj sajing that the same thing is true of 
man at any period of his life. The grown up infant may- 
display great activity in obtaining food and shelter, but 
will these things satisfy him as they do the brute? He 
may get books, friends, a pleasant home, wealth, power, 
and fame, but having these, can he lie down as con- 
tented as the full fed bear in his den ? or as the mother 
bird on her nest? He may live in the midst of peace, or 
behind thick walls, but will he thus be rid of all enemies 
and of all sense of fear ? He may win a name for cour- 
age so that no eye can meet his without quailing but will 
his own heart never sink? Can he ever reach such a 
pitch of conscious superiority to danger as is displayed 
by the lordly lion in the forest, or the war-horse pawing 
in the valley ? There is but one answer to these ques- 
tions. 




most defenseless of all 



150 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



Man has needs and foes of which the brates know 
nothing, before which he stands powerless and unpro- 
tected. The birds twitter, the fish s[)ort, and the beasts 
lie down without one ungratified longing, or one twinge 
of ahirni, but man, proud man, the lord of creation 
forsooth ! can not stifle his cravings, nor dismiss his 
fears. Wliat then? Are we worse oft" than worms 
and insects? Undoubtedly we are, so long as we de- 
pend on our own resources. The author of the eight}^- 
fourth Psalm has pondered this two-fold limitation. 
He has sounded the depth of his own need and meas- 
ured the extent of his own danger. Looking away 
from himself he has found an all-sufficient portion in 
God. That is why in tlie opening of the Psalm his 
whole soul goes out to tlie sanctuary where he is wont 
to find so deep a sense of repose and safety: "Yea, the 
sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest 
for herself where she may lay her young, even thine 
altars, Lord of Hosts, my King and my God." 

Sustained by the hope of such a refuge the ancient 
pilgrim to Zion found a well of spiritual comfort in the 
dreariest valley of Baca. ITe goes on from stage to stage 
of his journey, till he a])pears before God and pours out 
his heart in adoration. Nor does he wait long for the 
blessing. Communion with God fills him with light and 
gladness, ^rhe blessedness of the one day atones for all 
the wretchedness and surpasses all the joy of a thousand 
other days. He would rather be a servant here, than a 
sovereign elsewhere. Then he generalizes his experience 
and shows us God as the beneficent source of all good 
and the almighty defense against all evil. Thus God 
reveals himself to every sincere spiritual worshipper. 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



The text wliieli embodies this result, consists of three 
clauses in which, according to the well known charac- 
teristics of Hebrew poetry, the same idea is repeated in 
different forms. This parallelism affords a convenient 
key to the measuring as well as to the structure of a 
passage. When we have grasped the notion that these 
several dresses are here employed to clothe the same 
truth, we have gone a great way toward a good "under- 
standing of this most impressive, instructive, and pro- 
found uttterance of tlie Holy Spirit. 

First of all, the thought is arrayed in the resplendent 
gai-ments of Eastern imagery. "The Lord God is a sun 
and shield." This combination of metaphors is like 
that of colors in the rainbow, striking and splendid. 
The imagination revels in it. It appeals powerfully 
to our sense of the beautiful, both in nature and in art. 
Its first effect is surprise; then it piques the curiosity; 
then it stimulates thought ; then it begins to gratify the 
taste; then it fii'es the soul with hoi 3^ admiration; then 
it opens the door of investigation and brings the mind 
into a large place, and finally suffuses the heart with feel- 
ing and produces an outburst of gratitude to a kind 
Heavenly Father who condescends to convey his truth in 
a manner so exquisitely adapted to please as well as to 
instruct. But there are some minds which are not cast 
in a poetic mould. Wordsworth says of one, 

" A primrose by the river's brim, 
A yellow primrose was to him, 
And it was nothing more." 

These also are God's children, and their hard matter- 
of-fact mental constitution is likewise his good gift. It 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



is just as needful as the otlier kind, and but for it the 
fancy would run to excess of riot. For such therefore 
the truth is put plainly and without a parable. " The 
Lord will give grace and glory." Lastly to render the 
knowledge of truth, whether received mainly through 
the fancy or through the judgment, of some practical use 
in the actual life we live in the flesh, the thought is 
stated in the shape of an inference that no good thing 
will be withheld from the upright, and then the Psalm 
concludes with an ascription of unspeakable blessedness 
to the man whose trust is in the Lord of Hosts. Let us 
now examine the thought of the text as expressed in 
this threefold form. 

First, the Poetic Form, "The Lord God is a sun and 
shield." God is a sun. There is no other place in the 
Bible where God is called directly by this title, but there 
are several passages which imply the same thing. Its 
appropriateness is very plain. The first impression made 
by the sun is that of light. As a light bearer the sun is 
indispensable. Blindness is a great calamity, but even 
blindness does not fully express tlie deprivation of light. 
To be blind is bad enough, but to have seeing eyes and 
yet to have no light, is worse. No blind man ever 
realized the curse of darkness as did the Egyptians 
whose sense of it was that it might be felt. It was an 
overwhelming pressure holding every one in his place in 
motionless despair. What the absence of the sun was 
to Egypt and what the presence of the sun was to Goshen 
that the absence or presence of God is to the soul. He 
is " the master hght of all our seeing." " In his light 
we see light clearly." Cut off from him we can not 
move hand or foot to help ourselves. 



154 OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 

But the sun is the source also of fertility. Botli the 
soil and the seed are softened by moisture, which the 
sun causes, and then warmed by its rays into action. 
How responsively all vegetation turns itself in dumb but 
eloquent acknowledgment toward the author of its exis- 
tence. The root sprouting in the cellar reaches out 
feebly but persistently toward the nearest window in 
search of the s~un ; the flowers turn lovingly from East to 
West to follow his progress ; vines can with difficulty be 
trained in any other direction, and even "the unwedgea- 
ble and gnarled oak " in its formation and growth obeys 
the same instinct. So entirely do all forms of life de- 
pend upon the sun, that if his rays were interrupted for a 
single month there is no living thing inearth, air or sea, 
that could survive. Such also is God to the life of the 
soul. In a material sense, we are wholly dependent upon 
His care, but it is especially in a spiritual sense that He 
is the source of all our life and energy. Wherever the 
warmth of His love does not penetrate, wherever His 
will is not the moving spring of life, there death reigns, 
a hideous despot. 

The soul that shuts out the love of God is dead in 
trespasses and sins. It is like the abandoned shaft of 
some deep mine in the mountains, where even mosses and 
lichens refuse to grow, where the choke-damp loves to 
linger and the seasons roll without effecting any change. 
" But unto you that fear my name the sun of righteous- 
ness shall arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go 
forth and grow up as calves of tlie stall." 

Another point of likeness is in the all pervasive force 
of gravitation. Something of this the ancients perceived. 
It made a deep impression upon the thoughtful David as 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



appears from tbat most familiar yet most mysterious 
nineteenth Psalm, where a close resemblance is suggested 
between the natural and revealed laws of God. There is 
nothing hid from the heat of the sun in His vast circuit, 
and the law of the Lord is equally potent to enlighten 
the mind, to convert the soul, and to rejoice the heart. 

But it has been reserved for modern thinkers to appre- 
ciate the extent to which the sun controls the earth. 
The sun swings our world around on its orbit with un- 
varying precision and with inconceivable swiftness. 
" All our food and clothing are produced by absorption 
of solar rays." The sun is the ultimate source of water 
power, steam power, electric power and muscle power, in 
short of every power existing in the world. What a 
magnificent emblem of Him " in whom we live and 
move and have our being." 

But why does not the Psalmist stop with this symbol ? 
Why does he pass on from so grand an emblem to one 
conceived on a lower plane and marking so wide a dif- 
ference ? 

The Lord God is a sun and shield. Is it not a viola- 
tion of even poetic license to unite two such discordant 
figures in a single expression ? Even if it were, the in- 
spired penman would not hesitate. The grand aim of 
the sacred poet is to tell the truth. If rules of composi- 
tion get in the w^ay of this design, so much the worse for 
the rules. In this case, however, there is no clashing, 
but on the contrary tlie rule which requires a certain con- 
formity in metaphors when combined, finds here a 
shining example. To the ancient, the sun was the high- 
est symbol of nature, and the shield was the highest 
symbol of art. There is, therefore, no want of fitness in 



156 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



combining tbem to indicate how truly God adapts him- 
self to human need. What the shield meant when this 
Psalm was penned may be learned from another source. 
In the Iliad of Homer, a poem nearly as old as this 
Psalm, there is a famous description of the armor pre- 
pared for the great warrior, Achilles. Of that descrip- 
tion more than a hundred lines are devoted to the shield 
and hardly half a dozen liues to the rest of the armor. 
All the cunning of Vulcan was employed in making the 
shield not only impenetrable but also beautiful. It con- 
tained numerous scenes of war and peace, wrought with 
surpassing artistic skill. While the first object was pro- 
tection, there was combined with this, beauty of execu- 
tion in the highest degree of excellence. It was at once 
a protection and a gem of art. 

Now see how well this symbol, in both these respects, 
accords with the first. It is true the sun gives light, but 
it does so without any regard to capacity for light. It 
falls upon the unshrinking eye of the eagle, and upon the 
blinking owl with equal strength. But God is. more than 
a sun, He is a shield. When His light strikes down the 
rapt Isaiah or the loving John, He lifts them up again 
and puts strength in them. When He reveals himself 
to Moses He puts His child in a cleft of the rock and 
covers him with His hand till the insufferable blaze of 
His glory is subdued enough for mortal eyes to look and 
live. 

Again the sun warms but it does not measure its heat 
by the demand for it. The strength of its rays is never 
adjusted to the weakness of the objects on which they 
fall. Some plant may have a worm at its root against 
which it could battle successfully by the help of shade 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



and moisture; but tlie sun takes no note of tliis. A 
prophet may have sought shelter under the doomed 
plant, but neither for him will the sun slack its tier\^ 
stream. It beats down without pity even though Jonah 
should become angry and wish in himself to die. 

" Strange that the sun should call into birth 
All the fair flowers and fruits of earth, 
To bid them perish and see them die, 
While they cheer the soul, and gladden the eye. 
At noon, its cliild is the pride of spring, 
And at night, a shriveled and worthless thing. 
To-day there is life and hope in its breath, 
And to-morrow it slu'inks to a useless death. 
Strange doth it seem that the sun should joy 
To give life alone that it may destroy." 

Therefore the sun is a defective symbol of God. He 
is a sun and shield. When the people faint and sink 
under the burden and heat of the day, then He becomes 
to them as the "shadovvof a great rock in a weary land." 
While he smites with one hand he upholds and comforts 
with the other. Dwell for a moment on the complete- 
ness af our protection when God is our shield. He is a 
defense against every form of evil. He saves us from 
ourselves. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself but in 
me is thy help." He saves us from our enemies. We may 
be wandering in a strange land or among suspicious and 
envious neighbors, like Abraham in Palestine, or David 
in Gath, but the promise still holds good. " Fear not, 
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great re- 
ward." Envious neighbors may be changed into open 
enemies, as they were with David and as tliey now are 



158 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



with our missionaries in Egypt, but tlie sure memories 
of David are given to us, " Thou, O Lord, art a shield for 
me, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that 
have set themselves against me round about." 

The Lord before me still 
I set and trust his love, 
At my right hand he guards from ill 
And nothing shall me move." 

" Happy art thou, Israel ! Who is like unto thee 
people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and 
thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee." 

Even when the eternal God rises up in wrath and 
launches the thunderbolts of vengeance against us, we mny 
escape without a scar, for the Love of God inter[)oses and 
receives in his own breast the weapons aimed at us. 1'he 
sword of justice is awaked to smite with terrible power, 
but the shield of mercy catches the stroke, and turns it 
aside from us. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. 

Examine this shield, Christian! See with what in- 
finite skill it was prepared in the counsels of eternity. 
How ample are its proportions, how firm its temper and 
withal how beautiful to look upon. The shield of 
Achilles was boasted to be invulnerable, but it did not 
save him from the fatal arrow. Our shield will not 
suffer a hair of our heads to perish. The shield of 
Achilles was beautiful, but no work of art can compare 
with the work of our salvation wrought in Jesus Christ. 
When we look upon Him we see the perfection of 
beauty. Every incident in His earthly life appeals to 
our sense of the truly beautiful. We see Him healing 
the sick, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



strength to the impotent, cleansing to the lepers, life to 
the dead and glad ii dings to all. We see Him lying in 
the manger, working at the bench, teaching by the way- 
side, glorified on the mountain, prostrate in the garden, 
bound at the judgment seat, bleeding on the cross, burst- 
ing from the tomb and ascending into heaven. With, 
what intense and devout interest we gaze upon this shield ! 
We summon our friends to admire its beauty, we chal- 
lenge the universe to produce the like, we call upon 
angels and devils to fall down and worship before it. Wax- 
ing bolder we appeal to the great Jehovah of Hosts to 
decide if this is not a sufficient protection against even 
the fierceness of His anger and the might of his omnipo- 
tence, " Behold, God, our shield and look upon the 
face of thine annointed." And this frown is changed 
into a smile of approval, as He recognizes the face of his 
well beloved. In Him He sees no iniquity in Jacob. He 
takes away all iniquity and receives us graciously. 

Notice in the second place, the didactic or promissory- 
form of this text. " The Lord will give grace and glory." 
Everything good is here included. The favor of God 
in this life, and the glory of God in the life to come. 
What more could mortals ask or receive? Yerily God 
is the beneficent source of all good. "Every good gift 
and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down 
from the father of light." Again, "Salvation is not of 
works lest any man should boast. " All that any one 
can lionestly earn is punishment. " The wages of sin is 
death,'- while " the gift of God is eternal life." These 
are two doctrines clearly taught in this passage. Salva- 
tion is of the Lord and salvation is a gift. " We are 
saved by grace." 



i6o 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD, 



Farther, grace and glory are here united. They 
are bound up in the same gift, and must be taken 
or refused together. They are wedded to each other by 
the Holy Spirit. To this heaven-made union, if I may so 
speak, three offsprings are born. One is the final perse- 
verance of the saints ; Grace must be followed by 
glory. " He which hath begun a good work in you will 
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." The second 
offspring of this wedlock, is the necessity of repentance 
and regeneration in this life. Glory must be preceded by 
grace, ye must be born again. To show the glory of 
God in eternity, we must have the grace of God in time. 
The third offspring is the identity of grace and glory. 
They are one and the same thing in different stages of 
development. Grace is the blossom and glory the fruit, 
says a wise author. " Man is the glory of this lower 
world, the soul is the glory of man, grace is the glory 
of the soul, and heaven is the glory of grace.'' 

Notice, thirdly, the practical inference drawn from 
this conception of God: "No good thing will he with- 
hold from them that walk uprightly." There is no 
greater theme than God as the beneficent source of all 
good and as the almighty defense against all evil, but it 
is well to bear in mind, that although He makes His sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust, yet His benevolence does not 
shield the wicked from perdition. The Lord God is a 
sun to all, but He is a shield only to thope th"at put their 
trust in Him and walk uprightly. All through the 
Psalms this integrity of walk and conversation is insisted 
upon. It is the keynote struck at the beginning of this 
multitudinous anthem of praise, and it runs through the 



Idur sun and shield, i6i 

entire collection. Only the downright honesty of a sin- 
cere life is regarded by God as the proper evidence of 
grace in the heart' and glory in prospect. If you desire 
grace here and glory hereafter, take that thought home 
with you and act upon it day by day. Deal fairly with 
your fellows, avoid all sharp practice. Abstain from all 
appearance of evil, live a life of simple integrity, pro- 
vide things honest in the sight of all men and then ex- 
pect the blessing of God upon your efforts. Be not 
afraid to ask Him for temporal as well as spiritual favors 
but do not repine if he keeps you poor in this world's 
goods. If your child asks you for an edged tool to play 
with or even to work with, you do not always grant his 
request. And if you ask God for what you think to be 
a fish but what He knows to be a scorpion He is too 
kind a Father to give it you. Learn, therefore, to be 
content with such things as you have, and never forget 
that the highest of all good lies in the favor and protec- 
tion of God. While the multitude are clamoring for 
gifts, see that you covet earnestly the best gift, 

I cannot dismiss this subject without calling your 
attention to a notable characteristic of the whole Bible 
of which this text affords an excellent example. I 
allude to that comprehensiveness of application which 
the Bible exhibits in adapting itself to all the require- 
ments of human diversity and human advancement. 
This blessed book is intended for all sorts and conditions 
of men. The poet, the sage, and the plowman, the king, 
the slave, and the beggar, the Jew, the Gentile and the 
savage, the soldier, the sailor, and the mountaineer, it 
appeals to them, each and all, in their own peculiar 
sphere as surely and naturally as the feelings of hunger, 
II 



l62 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



cold and weariness. There is no zone where the seed of 
the word may not find congenial soil, and bring forth a 
full harvest. 

Not only is this true at the present, but it has been 
true for every day of the past thousand years. This is 
the only book that has kept pace with the march of the 
human intellect along the centuries. It is the oldest 
book in existence and it is the freshest book to be found 
on the shelves of the bookseller. Other volumes have 
had their day; this volume its millenium in the past, 
and bids fair to have them in the future. 

The learned tomes of ancient scholars are monuments, 
not of human wisdom but of human folly, and the text 
books of modern science are almost as shortlived as the 
fashions in dress. Where is there one, in use ten years 
ago, which, without being revised is considered good 
authority to-day ? Where is there one in use at present 
Avhich any one except the author expects to see in use 
ten years hence? But He who is the same yesterday, 
to-day and forev^er, has given a revelation of his will 
which bears the severest test of time and progress. It 
comforted Moses in his day of trial, it found its way into 
the heart of the Ethiopian Eunuch in apostolic times 
and it satisfies the inmost soul of many a believer who 
is even now sinking in the struggle with the last enemy. 
The lowliest son of toil has found his labor lightened by 
it and the mightiest intellect that ever questioned nature 
has bowed in grateful submission to its teachings. 
David looked up to the starry heavens and spoke of God 
with reverence and with awe. Is there nothing super- 
natural in this? 

The Lord God is a snn and shield to the ancient 



OUR SUN AND SHIELD. 



163 



Psalmist. In our day when the sun is discovered to be 
the centre of a vast system and the shield is personified 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, what deeper toned voice can 
we find for our sense of entire dependence and of abso- 
lute security ? And when heaven and earth shall pass 
away, when the sun shall be blotted out of the sky aud 
earthly princes shall no more anoint the shield fur brit- 
tle, then we may well beheve this language will not be 
inappropriate. "Tlie sun shall be no more thy light by 
day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light 
unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting 
light and thy Grod, thy Glory. Thy sun shall no more 
go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the 
Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy 
mourning shall be ended." 



XII. 



DANGER, DUTY, AND CO^fFORT. 

" Behold, I come quickly : hold that fast which thou hast, that no 
man take thy crown." — Rev. iii. 11. 

THE believers of Philadelphia are described in the 
verses preceding the text as the objects of Christ's 
discriminating affection and the subjects of his preserv- 
ing grace. Because they had kept his word and not 
denied his name he also would keep them as the apple 
of the eye. From the terror of masked inquisitors by 
night, and from the arrow of merciless soldiers by d^js 
he would be their covenant shield; and no tribulation, or 
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, 
or sword, should ever be able to separate them from his 
almighty love. In vieAV of his gracious commendation 
and strong pledge the present warning is not a little 
remarkable. Having assured them of his watchful care, 
he now bids them take care of themselves. Having 
recognized their fidelity in the severest trials, he warns 
them against backsliding. It is the old paradox. His 
promise of protection is not intended to make them 
careless, but quite the contrary. He spreads his wings 
over them but they are not to fall asleep in the nest. He 
sends forth his mighty angels to be their ministering 
spirits and guardians and "therefore," says the apostle for 
this very reason, " we ought to give the more earnest 
heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time 
164 



DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 165 



we should let them slip." It is a part of God's plan for 
our preservation from eyery ill, that He should warn us 
of our constant danger. He does not design to save his 
people by taking them out of the world, but by keeping 
them from the evil. For this purpose he hangs oat a 
danger signal to be always befoi'e their eyes ; that while 
they delight in his love they may not presume upon it, 
and while they confide in his promised salvation they 
may not neglect to work out their own salvation. 

Let this warning then be laid to heart by every 
believer in Christ. There is danger of losing the crown. 
To this truth give all the scriptures witness. Our Saviour 
himself put it into three startling words when telling the 
Pharisees of the unexpected coming of his kingdom. 
"Kemember Lot's wife." John is moved to utter it, 
contrary to his usual smoothness, in abrupt and broken 
speech. "Look to yourselves that we lose not those 
things which we have wrought, but that we receive a 
full reward." Peter goes beyond his ordinary vehemence 
to sound the same note of alarm. " Be sober, be vigi- 
lant ; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring 
hon, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." 
Paul is not content with one exhortation to beware of 
this danger, but he multiplies his admonitions and caps 
the climax by declaring to the Corinthians that so fir 
from being exalted by the abundance of his revelations 
and his success as a preacher, he was constrained to 
buffet his body and bring it into bondage, lest after hav- 
ing preached to others he himself should be cast away. 

Now, if John who wrote this Kevelation, and Peter 
who had the positive assurance of the Saviour's all-pre- 
vailing intercession, and Paul who surpassed all workers 



l66 DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT, 

in his zeal and all dreamers in his visions, if such men 
tremble at times in apprehension of their danger, what 
degree of watchfulness can be too great for us who come 
so far short of their attainments in grace and holiness ? 
And further, let us add, "if judgment first begin at us, 
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel 
of God ? And if the righteous scarcely be saved where 
shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? " Their fate 
will be wretched, indeed, but it will lack at least one 
ingredient which must embitter the cup of any lost soul 
that has tasted the heavenly gift, and the good word of 
God, and the powers of the world to come. The Bible 
teaches that some may be in the church and have the 
outward marks of a true believer, and much inward feel- 
ing of joy and hope, and yet all the time be deceiving 
themselves and others, with a name to live and a form 
of Godliness while the genuine spirit of life and piety is 
totally wanting. 

What a miserable end it would be, if a sailor should 
keep his course safely through all the perils of the sea, 
througli storm and calm, past rocks and shoals, in fogs 
and darkness for days and months, till the land was 
sighted and the harbor approached, and the tackle made 
ready to fasten the ship to the wharf, and the plank 
heaved up for the passage ashore, and the wife and chil- 
dren all gathered on the pier with glad smiles and 
outstretched arms, and then the ship should go down in 
the very port and carry all her crew to death I Alas, 
many shall seem to be on board the gospel ship and- 
shall draw near the haven of eternal peace, who shall 
never drop their anchor within the veil nor receive the 
warm embrace of loved ones who are waiting, wives for 



DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 167 



their husbands, and mothers for their children, there on 
the other shore. The thing for us to do in view of this 
possibility, my dear friends, is to make our calling and 
election sure, to examine ourselves whether we are in 
the faith, to gird up our loins and trim our lamp, and be 
like unto those that keep a constant watch against the 
coming of their enemy and for the coming of their Lord. 

It will stimulate us to greater earnestness if we bear 
in mind what it is we are in danger of losing. It is 
nothing less than the crown itself. The victor at the 
Olympian games was crowned in token of the greatest 
honor that could be put u[)on him. When people choose 
a king they crown him, and that crown is the symbol of 
the greatest authority and dignity and splendor possible 
to be attained in that realm. All that is meant by a 
crown in this world, is here intended to be understood of 
the world to come. It means the highest, the noblest 
and the best that can possibly be had by the soul. To 
lose this crown is to lose heaven, to lose happiness, to 
come short of that glory which is the proper destiny of 
an immortal being. This is a loss without any compen- 
sation. When a child loses a toy it may be replaced ; 
when a farmer loses a crop of wheat he may still have a 
good yield of corn, or he may hope for a better harvest 
next year ; when a genei'al loses a battle he may retreat 
and reform his line and retrieve his fortunes ; when an 
arm or a limb is lost, life may still remain, and when 
life itself is lost, there is hope of a life beyond, but when 
the soul is lost, all is lost. There is no substitute, there 
is no equivalent, there is no recovery, there is no atone- 
ment, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. 

This danger is not a remote one, it is very near to 



l68 DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT 



some of us now. It is a very common thing for a soul 
to lose its crown. What do I say? Every second that 
passes, carries with it out into eternity, naked, shelter- 
less, solitary, a human soul; and of the millions that die 
every month, liow few there are concerning whose sal- 
vation we can indulge a well grounded hope! 

Death comes so unexpectedly too. "We do not dream, 
that death is just at our elbow, till he lays his icy hand 
upon the heart and the silver cord is snapped and the 
golden bowl is shivered. 

The danger is increased by the presence of spiritual 
enemies. It is bad enough to liave a deceitful heart; 
this would lead us astray far enough and often enough 
without any assistance. But there are many cunning 
and powerful enemies seeking our ruin. 

My soul be on thy guard, 
Ten thousand foes arise, 
Tlie hosts of sin are pressing hard 
To draw thee from the skies." 

There is the devil like a roaring hungry lion, what a 
terrible adversary is he ; there are all his evil angels 
ready at our ears with a hundred plausible lies to entice 
us from the path of safety ; and there are some of our 
fellow-creatures, who, instead of seeking their own sal- 
vation, are plotting our destruction. 

For foes against me rise, 
Oppressors seek my soul. 
They set not God before their eyes, 
Nor own Ins just control." 

We are all children of one mother, the earth, and one 
Father, even God, but how fearfully we bite and devour 



I DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 169 

one another! The vision of Mirza is a terrible reality. 
We are travelerd on a bridge of seventy arches and the 
floor has so many rotten planks and gaping holes, that 
the crossing is very uncertain and many fall by the way, 
wliile not a few pilgrims go about to push their fellows 
into tlie dark river below, and even make fresh pitfalls 
to catch unwary feet. 

Nevertheless all these enemies will fail of their pur- 
pose, if only we are true to Christ. " Who is he that 
shall harm you if ye be followers of that which is good ? " 
The danger is great, but it may be met and overcome. 
The Captain of our salvation himself took this perilous 
journey and noted every dangerous feature. He was 
tempted in all points like as we are and in that he hath 
suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that 
are tempted. His message and direction to the feeble 
but firm representatives of the church of Philadelphia, 
threatened on every side and almost ready to be crushed, 
may be confidently accepted as the guide and safeguard 
of every hard-pressed believer; Hold that /as^ which 
thou hast, that no man take thy crown." 

The duty is thus made as plain as the danger. Let 
me say here once for all that we are not to understand 
the great Eedeemer as making salvation dependent on 
human endurance. " He that endureth to the end shall 
be saved." That is one side of the truth ; the other 
side is, "except those days should be shortened, there 
should no flesh be saved." The full-orbed truth is given 
in that wonderful passage of Peter, " Blessed be the God 
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to 
his abundant mercy, hath, begotten us again unto a liv- 
ing hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 



I/O DAXGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 



dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and 
that fadetli not away, reserved in heaven for you who 
are kept bj the power of God through faith unto salva- 
tion." Still the command is as stringent as if every 
thing depended on our own efforts. " Be thou faithful 
unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." 

Having already mentioned in this letter to the church 
some particulars in which Philadelphia had gloriously 
maintained the truth, the Saviour now uses a general 
expression to cover the whole ground of their duty. It 
was in all probability from their adoption of this expres- 
sion, that the martyrs of the Eeformation were called, as 
we learn from Fox, the " Hold Fasts." It w^as perhaps 
in allusion to the same thing that the House of Orange 
adopted for its device the elliptical motto, " I will main- 
tain." The particular application of this motto was 
left to circumstances, as for example, w^hen the illustri- 
ous Prince of Orange, who is best known as William 
III. of England, embarked on that memorable voyage 
which ended so happily for Europe and the world, he 
flung to the gale his standard embroidered with the 
motto in massive letters, "I will maintain — the liberties 
of England and the Protestant religion." So the Christ- 
ians of Philadelphia could fit this stirring call of their 
Master to any branch of Christian duty. At one junc- 
ture, it would be their great and pressing duty to hold 
fast the knowledge of saving truth. When apocrvplial 
gospels should be fabricated and palmed off upon the 
church, then it would become them to " contend earnestly 
for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." When 
a long rest from persecution should lead them to care- 
lessness about the form of sound words, or forgetfulness 



DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT, lyi 



of their meaning, then it would behoove them to give 
more earnest heed to the things which they had beard 
"lest tliey should It^t them slip." At another time it 
would be especially necessary to have faith in this sav- 
ing truth, and again, zeal in spreading it abroad, and 
again, patience, in enduring persecution on account of it. 

In our day we need most of all, I think, to hold fast our 
belief in the Bible as the inspired word of God. The 
conflict has taken a very wide range in past ages; just 
now the enemy has concentrated his forces to push the 
attack on this blessed book. The attempt is first made 
to break down the outworks of our faith. The cry is, 
" Give up the theory of plenary inspiration. Admit that 
divine authority does not extend to the words of script- 
ure." But if we permit them to break through this bar- 
rier the next attack will be directed against particular 
verses and paragraphs ; and then whole books will be 
assailed, and, in the end, they will leave us no more than 
a single plank of the good old ship, on which we may 
drift without rudder, compass or chart, at the mercy of 
the sea, blown about by every wind of doctrine, and sub- 
merged by every tossing wave of sin. Against this dan- 
ger there comes a warning voice, like the noise of many 
waters, saying, " Hold that fast which thou hast." It is 
like the cry of a captain whose ship is assailed by the 
enemy. He does not yield an inch of vantage ground 
but whenever he sees men clamber up the sides, and then 
through the port holes of his vessel, he shouts, ''Stand 
by to repel boarders." He knows well enough that if 
the deck is abandoned, the ship is lost. 

A few years ago Professor Christlieb of Bonn Univer- 
sity proposed that we retreat from the outposts and de- 



172 DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 



vote all our strengtb to foi'tifjing the citadel. He is a 
great, and a wise and a good man, but I cannot allow any 
man however great or wise or good, to conne between me 
and my risen Lord, who tells me to hold fast every jot 
and tittle of his holy word. Therefore I say to any one 
who draws near with an irreverent touch to shake my 
full and perfect confidence in this blessed book : " Hands 
off." My attitude in regard to the scriptures, is that of 
the psalmist, " Therefore I esteem all thy precepts con- 
cerning all things to be right.^^ I care not whether the 
mutilator of the Bible be a declared enemy or a pro- 
fessed friend, my answer to each is one and the same. 

At the battle of Gettysburg a mere boy was carrying 
the flag of a certain regiment, when a shot pierced him 
and he fell. The colors fell with him, and as the ample 
folds settled down upon his prostrate form, he reached out 
his arms convulsively and gathered the old flag to his 
bleeding breast. A comrade stepped up and laid hold of the 
banner, but the stiffening fingers held it fast. Then the 
comrade said, "Give me the flag." Tlie lad's eyes were 
growing dim ; he could not see who it was and he gasped 
out : " Friend or enemy ? " "A friend," was the answer. 
" Then if you are a friend let — me — hold — ^it — till — I 
— die." That is the way I want to hold fast the Bible. 
May its oriflamme of hatred to evil float over my head in 
every conflict and its banner of love be furled above me 
at every feast. May the sound of its words cheer me on, 
like music in the march, and the sight of it beckon me 
forward to victory in the battle, and the memory of it 
■wrap me round in the bivouac. And when the fatal dart 
at length strikes me down and my green tent is spread in 
yonder silent camp ground, may He that is Holy and 



DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 



True make good his promise of victory over the last en- 
emy, and He that hath the key of David, open to me a 
door of passage from the grave to His own presence where 
I shall not need the Holy Book to teach me of his will. 
But till that time shall fully come let no one seek to rob 
me of my Bible. If you are an enemy you cannot, and 
if you are a friend, you will not ; therefore "let me hold 
it till I die." 

I have talked about the danger and the duty, now let 
me open this Avord of infinite comfort : "Behold I come 
quickly." The speedy coming of Christ is the key note 
of the whole book of Eevelation. It is an event to be 
dreaded by those who obey not his gospel but to be 
hailed with joy by those who do. In the days of his 
flesh he forewarned his hearers of the same thing. 
" Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh, 
shall find watching. But if that evil servant say in his 
heart. My Lord delayeth his coming," then he shall be 
cut asunder and doomed forever to weeping and gnashing 
of teeth. 

In these letters to the churches the announcement has 
hitherto been a word of terrible import. Ephesus and 
Pergamus and Sardis are warned by it of impending judg- 
ment, but to Philadelphia, it is the assurance of approach- 
ing deliverance out of the hand of all enemies. 

Nothing could be better calculated to encourage faint- 
ing hearts than this pledge of speedy succor. When the 
battle is first doubtful, then disastrous, and the enemy 
comes pouring in like a flood, then it is that the sight of 
the loved and trusted commander-in-chief rouses the 
I wildest enthusiasm and turns defeat into victory. It was 
this that changed the day at ISTaseby. Do you remember 



174 DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT, 

tlie stirring lines winch Macaulaj puts into tlie mouth of 
a sergeant of Iretoii's regiment ? 

" They are here ! They rush on ! We are broken ! We are 
gone ! 

Our left is borne before them like stubble on the blast. 
O Lord, put forth thj might ! O Lord, defend the right ! 
Stand back to back, in God's name, and fight it to the last. 

Stout Skippon hafh a wound ; tlie centre hath given ground ; 
Hark ! hark ! — What means the trampling of Ijorsemen on 
our rear ? 

Whose banner do I see, boys ? 'Tis he, thank God, 'tis he, 
boys. 

Bear up another minute ; brave Oliver is here. 

Their heads all stooping low, their points all in a row, 

Like a whirlwind on the trees, like a deluge on the dykes, 

Our cuirassiers have burst on the ranks of the Accurst, 
And at a shock have scattered the forest of his pikes." 

It was this that made all the difference at Cedar Creek, 
when the dark steed made famous by the lines of Buch- 
anan Eead, bore Sheridan down from Winchester to turn 
back the tide of flight and save the day. It was this 
that enabled the devoted garrison at Kenesaw to hold 
fast their position in spite of overwhelming numbers, 
when from the mountain tops, fifteen miles away, Sher- 
man's approach was signaled. That signal has been set 
to music and sung in religious meetings all over tlie 
land. 

" Behold I come quickly. Hold that fast winch thou 
hast that no man take thy crown." But some one will 
saj, " How is it that he comes quickly f " Nearly two 



DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT, 



1/5 



thousand years have rolled away since the fathers fell 
asleep, yet all things continue as they were. "Where is 
the promise of his coming? " My answer is two-fold. 
Christ came to the members of tlie Church of Philadel- 
phia at death, and death always comes quickly. " Few 
and evil are my days," said the aged Jacob, and his 
words struck a chord that vibrates still in the heart of 
the oldest who sees his end approaching. " All life is as 
grass," says ancient Isaac. Yea ; saith Moses, life is a 
"dream," "a flood," "a tale that is told," "a watch in 
the night." 

*' A few more years shall roll, 
A few more seasons come, 
And we shall be with those that rest 
Asleep within the tomb." 
Brethren, this is not a mournful thought. It will help 
"US perhaps to overcome tlie fear of death if we think of 
it as only the coming of Jesus. There was a lovely 
maiden imprisoned in a gloomy castle. Her lover clothed 
himself in a disguise of such terrible appearance, that the 
very sight of him frightened the guards from their posts, 
and they reported to all that a monstrous dragon had 
seized and devoured the captive lady. But she recog- 
nized his voice when he burst open her dungeon door, 
and the hideous wrappings seemed to her a pleasant 
covering, when she felt the beat of that true heart against 
her own. Earth is such a castle and sin is such a dun- 
geon, from which to rescue us the royal bridegroom 
comes disguised as death. When death knocks at the 
door of this our mortal tabernacle, let us listen for the 
whisper of our beloved, showing himself through the 
lattice and saying, " Rise up, my love, my fair one, and 
come away." 



176 DANGER, DUTY, AND COMFORT. 



Christ will come also in his own person, when, we 
cannot say, but we know it will be quickly. It will be 
only a little while till death overtakes us, and wlien we 
enter the spirit world, a thousand years will be as one 
day. 

John heard the souls of martyrs crj^ from beneath the 
altar, " How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou not 
avenge our blood?" And it was said unto them that 
they should rest yet " for a little season." That was 
eighteen hundred years ago, but the " little season " is 
not yet passed, the harvest of blood has not yet been 
fully gathered, and yet the great day of the Lord is near ; 
it is near, and hasteth greatly, even as the light from 
stars, so far away from us that their light has not yet 
reached us, comes quickly. 

The thing for us to do is to make ready for his coming 
which may occur at any moment. Let us summon our 
souls to put forth all their energies, to hold fast that 
which is committed to our trust. Let "us quit ourselves 
like men for the trial and pain and sorrow. Let us 
remember that the only way to hold fast what we have 
is to get more, to go on from, strength to strength. 
On the foundation stone of faith let us build up virtue, 
temperance, patience, gentleness, brotherly kindness, 
charity. Morning by morning let us gird our loins anew 
for the struggle. Evening by evening let us erect our 
Ebenezer, with trembling exultation saying, " Hitherto 
hath the Lord helped us." Let us set our houses in order 
and be ready to say " farewell to earth, all hail to heaven." 
Let the voice of our Master be always ringing in our 
ears, " Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with 
me." " Even so come. Lord Jesus, come quickly." 



XIII. 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



"And some, pastors and teachers." Ephesians iv. 11. 

'HEN" Napoleon Bonaparte solicited tlie Pope to 



V y grace the ceremony of his coronation, by plac- 
ing the imperial crown upon his head, and the culmina- 
tion of the gorgeous rite was reached, instead of humbly 
kneeling to receive the crown according to the programme, 
Kapoleon, standing erect, took the glittering diadem into 
his own hands — and crowned himself. It is to be feared 
that some candidates for the holy ministry accept the 
imposition of presbyterial hands merely as a convenient 
form, or sanction, and thus set out upon the most momen- 
tous errand that ever engaged mortal or angelic messen- 
gers, without being sent. Against this Napoleonic pride 
of self appointment, our Lord cautioned his disciples 
more than once, but especially in his farewell address: 
"Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and 
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and 
that your fruit should remain." 

The paragraph from which the text is taken shows 
that this same truth applies to church officers of every 
grade and in every age. " When he ascended upon high, 
he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And 
he gave some to be apostles and some prophets, and some, 
evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers." Although 
the qualifications of a pastor and teacher being ordinary 




12 



178 



THE CALL TO THE MI ATS TRY. 



and perpetual in their nature, differ somewhat from those 
of an apostle, which were miraculous and temporary, yet 
in both cases the office is ci-eated and bestowed by the 
same divine author. 

Paul seems to have considered the gift of preacliing to 
be greater than that of seeing visions or speaking 
unknown tongues. Be that as it may, the ministerial 
office exists among men simply and solely as the gift of 
Christ. '\He gave some to be pastors and teachers." To 
investigate the purport of this statement is the duty 
before us. What is the meaning of this double term 
" pastors and teachers ? " What moreover is the mean- 
ing of this indeterminate number " some ? " Eelying on 
the help of the Holy Spirit who alone can take of the 
things of Christ and show them unto us, I shall, as far ms 
in me lies, by way of answer to these questions, describe 
the office of the gospel ministry and determine to whom 
this office is given. 

The office is here called by a double title, pastor and 
teacher, which, intimates that no single term is comprehen- 
sive enough to fully characterize a minister of the gos]>el. 
Pastor comes nearest perhaps to what is wanted, but 
even this fails to satisfy Paul. Therefore he adds anotlier, 
namely, teacher. The use of this comj^ound expression 
naturally suggests tlie inquiry, How many and wh.at 
functions are attached, to this office? A very good 
answ^er to this question, and a sufficient description of the 
office, maybe given by mentioning the different titles be- 
stowed upon it in scripture. Of these. I have found two 
and twenty, and probably a closer examination would 
reveal several others. 

One of the most conspicuous pertains to the delivery of 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY, 179 



the gospel as a message. A pastor is the Messenger of 
God, not simply to a congregation on the Sabbath, or in 
the weekly prayer- meeting, but to every one with whom 
he comes in contact. He is to bring good tidings of 
great joy to all people. Like the courier which Napoleon 
was wont to dispatch after each new victory, who ceased 
not to shout as he thundered along, "Glorj^ to France. 
Marengo, or Jena, or Austerlitz, is won," so the messenger 
of Christ must be constantly repeating the angelic chorus, 
*' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will toward men." This honor belongs to all God's saints 
bat it is the especial privilege of a clergyman. He need 
not wait for death to make him "equal to the angels," 
for in bearing this message he is their fellow and com- 
panion already. He is an angel. As such, he greets the 
churub, as such, he represents it, and as such, the Master 
holds him responsible for the spiritual condition of those 
under his care. " To the angel of the church of Sardis, 
write; Be watchful and strengthen the things which 
remain that are ready to die." 

This angel or messenger is also an ambassador to repre- 
sent the majesty of Jehovah, who has a perfect right to 
command, though he condescends to plead with men. 
And such pleading — "As though God did beseech you 
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, Be ye reconciled 
to God." On the other hand, he is a priest to plead with 
God for man. " Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, 
weep between the porch and the altar and let them say 
'Spare thy people O Lord.'" Again, he is a watchman 
stationed on the high places of the church to keep a 
sharp look-out for enemies and give the people timely 
warning. So he watches for souls, as one that must give 



l8o THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



account. In another view he is a witness who testifies 
to others of what God has done for his own soul ; who 
looks abroad and describes what he sees — tlie surging 
tide of battle between truth and error, the triumpli of 
light over darkness, the sure tokens of a coming judg- 
ment. When that judgment is finally set and the books 
are opened he will still be a witness, not now of God to 
man, but of man to God — a swift witness against all those 
who refused his earthly testimony. 

He is a soldier too, called to endure hardships, and in 
many instances such hardships as the heroes of Valley 
Forge, or the victims of Aiidersonville did not encounter : 
a soldier, to fight against spiritual wickedness in high 
places: a soldier, to lead and inspire the ranks of 
Immanuel's army. So the list runs on. He is a fisher 
to catch men, — adapting his methods to their character 
and surroundings, using the cunning of a serpent to get 
them within reach of the gospel net. He is a shepherd 
to keep them when caught, to watch over them by day 
and by night, to face the ravening wolf in their behalf, 
to feed and shield them at the expense of all his ener- 
gies, — even of life itself. He is a teacher to instruct 
them in the way of life, to increase their store of knowl- 
edge and to educMte them toward the measure of the 
perfect man. He is a father to bear patiently with their 
imperfections, to correct their faults, and to rear them in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He is a man 
of God to live daily sermons, a preacher of righteous- 
ness, to voice the truth, and a laborer earning wages to 
show that he is not exempt from the curse. He is a 
bishop to oversee the Lord's work and give directions to 
it, yet a steward with derived authority, entrusted with 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY, 



l8l 



tlie gospel whose whole duty is summed up in blameless 
and incorrupt fidelity. He is a minister to serve the 
church, to seek not the property bat the souls of his 
people, to sympathize with them in sickness, to comfort 
them in bereavement, to go hand in hand with them 
down to the verge of the river of death. His rank is 
equal to the highest, and on a level with the lowest in 
the social scale. He is a star, for glory, bedecking the 
firmament of God's eternal purpose, upheld in that high 
station by his almighty hand ; he is an elder, to bear 
rule in the house of God ; he is an assistant of Christ, an 
under rower in the gospel ship, as the term, used in 
1 Cor. iv. 1, imports, and to cap the anti -climax he is the 
veritable slave of all for Jesus' sake. Such is the office 
of the gospel ministry, as described in Holy Writ. W ell 
may we adopt the .language of the greatest that ever 
held it and say, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " 
Certainly none, unless selected and qualified by Him who 
has all power in heaven and earth, through whose 
imparted strength we can do all things. 

Let us then inquire to whom this ofiice is given? To 
perform such various functions would seem to require, 
"Not one but all mankind's epitome." And in truth 
there is no other profession which demands so wide a 
range of natural and acquired ability on the part of its 
practicer. This I say, not in the way of boasting — God 
forbid — but like the great apostle to the Gentiles, "I 
magnify mine office." So far from scrupling to use 
words of eulogy in speaking of the cure of souls, I would 
lay it down as the necessary concomitant of a divine 
call to the ministry, to have a thorough -going respect 
for the office itself. Think what it is to be a gospel 



l82 



THE CALL TO THE MIATSTRV. 



minister. It is to stand as tlie representative of tlie 
eternal, immortal, invisible King, before immoi'tal, invisi- 
ble, judgment-bound souls. It is to be the conscious 
instrument of unspeakable torment or ineftable gladness. 
It is to dispense, in the name of Christ, promises exceed- 
ing great and precious wliicli all the treasures of all the 
nations in the ^\orld could not make good, and to 
denounce judgments exceeding great and terrible^ which 
all the power of all the armies in the world could neither 
avert nor support. It is to wield an influence for good 
or evil, which infinity alone can measure and nothing- 
short of eternity can bound. It is to occupy a position 
wdiich for lofty significance, transcendent interest and 
dread responsibility, finds a parallel in the attitude of the 
high-priest Aaron, in that supreme act of his typical 
life, when " he stood between the dead and the living, 
and the plague was staj^ed." 

My young brethren, if a desire to ascertain more per- 
fectly your warrant to engage in "the poorest of trades 
but the noblest of callings," lias led jom to request a dis- 
course on this subject, let me urge it upon you as among 
the first and most essential ingredients of a call to the 
ministry, that you entertain the very highest conception 
of the importance and even grandeur of the work that 
is before 3'OU. Such a conception will humble rather 
than puff you up. You will shrink from the honor and 
the burden, as did Moses and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and 
Paul and Luther, but like these holy men, you will enter 
upon your task, emptied of self and filled with God, so 
as to make "full proof of your ministry." 

Next in order, as indicating your call, I would mention 
some degree of aptitude for the work. Just as in nature, 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



183 



SO in grace, the adaptation of any object to any purpose, 
indicates a divine intention to have that particular object 
applied to tbat specific purpose. Sometimes a child is 
selected b}^ his parents, to be educated for the ministry, 
because he is weak in body. No greater mistake could 
be made. -The farm or tlie shop would be much more 
suitable and beneficial to the sickly child, while the severe 
and protracted physical strain encountered in preparing 
for tlie ministry calls for a healthy and vigorous frame. 
It is true, Robert Hall and Richard Baxter and some 
others in feeble health, have performed Herculean labors 
in the ministry, but it was because they possessed a force of 
character and a strength of will, that compelled the body 
to do and endure what would have crushed it, if animated 
by a less commanding genius. 

As a rule, the back is fitted to the burden, and God 
calls no man to toil in His vineyard, whose physical con- 
dition is such that he needs to be ministered unto rather 
than to minister. 

^i^ien, too, there should be the sound mind in the sound 
body. The Bible is a book for children and Avayfaring 
men, as well as for saiies and philosophers. The hum- 
blest intellect ma}^ grjisp enough of its meaning to grow 
in grace nnd in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
It is one thing, however, to understand the Scriptures 
and apply them to your own case, but it is a vastly dif- 
ferent thing to expound their teachings so as to con- 
vince, convert, and edifj^ others. 

The objection may be raised that many apostles, pro- 
phets and evangelists were ignorant men, but this objec- 
tion misses the point in tv/o ways. It forgets that these 
men were miraculously supplied with wisdom, and it 



i84 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY, 



overlooks the fact that tliey all had special training for 
their work. What course of college study ever did for 
a student what the desert solitudes accomplished for 
John the Baptist, or what tlie company and counsel of 
Jesus did for the first disciples? Peter and James and 
Matthew bad in them the stuff', mental and physical, out 
of which are made able ministers of the Gospel. 

But the chief qualification by which the man of God 
is thoroughly furnished unto all good works, lies neither 
in the members nor in the brain ; it has its seat in the 
heart. Piety, that instinctive uplifting of the soul from 
things mundane, to things supernal and divine ; that 
sentiment of devotion which permeates the whole of life 
and keeps us ever conscious of the all-seeing eye; that 
habitual recognition of the Great God as the Author of 
our being, the Guide of our way, and the Controller of 
our destiny; that constant bringing of every thought 
into subjection to the obedience of Christ, whose we are 
and whom we serve ; that inexhaustible fountain of grace 
and consolation which is in us a well of water springing 
up into everlasting life because it is evermore fed by the 
indwelling Spirit, the Comforter ; tliis is the true sign, 
and, I may say, the only indispensable factor in the pro- 
blem of a call to the ministry. When this piety exists 
with a mind that is able to distinguish between things 
that differ, and a body able to sustain the activities of 
the will, then there is evident what I would call a good 
degree of aptitude for the work. 

To esteem and aptness, let me add inclination. The 
presence or absence of this can be detected whenever a 
need of laborers is made known. If through observation 
of different fields, or information obtained through the 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



185 



press or public appeals by tlie cliurcla, there is borne in 
unto tbe soul, as it were the voice of God inquiring, 
*' Whom shall we send and who will go for us ? " and at 
once the impulse is felt and obeyed, to saj " Here am I, 
send me," then there is good hope that the Master will 
respond, " Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto 
tlie house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my 
mouth and give them warning from me." 

But this impulse must be capable of crystalizing into 
a most determined resolution. Even if assured, as Isaiah 
was, that the ears of all will be too heavy and their 
hearts too gross to receive your message ; or if, like Saul, 
you are foretold how great things you must suffer for His 
name's sake, you must still have the hardihood to go for- 
w^ard and the faith that overcomes all obstacles. 

When the explorer, Stanley, was enjoying the homage 
of Great Britain for his successful search after Living- 
stone, he received one morning a telegram directing him 
to make a second trip into the heart of the Dark Conti- 
nent. So vivid and overpowering was his recollection 
of the sufferings and horrors which obedience to that 
dispatch must inevitably repeat, that his strong frame 
withered and sickened under the apprehension. For 
days he kept his bed, and it was only by pondering 
deeply the closing words of that terrible summons, that 
he roused himself to undertake the journey which has 
resulted in opening the way for the gospel from the 
Congo to the Equator. Those reviving words were 
something as follows : " Draw on me at sight for ten 
thousand pounds sterling, and a thousand more for every 
month of the journey." 

To most of you, my dear friends, the lines will no 



i86 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



doubt fall in pleasant places. But if jou are not willing 
to go to the ends of the earth at the command of your 
Master; to traverse tlie jungles of India, or the burning 
sands of Africa ; to face the most dreadful scourges of 
tropical nature, and the most deadly hostility of savage 
man ; to accept the poorest appointment on the Western 
frontier and labor with your hands to support your body ; 
if you are not willing to bear, hope, believe, endure, all 
things in the service, and for the sake of your blessed 
Master, you have no call to the ministry. But lest you 
should faint and sink under such crushing requirements, 
you too have strengthening words to ponder. They are like 
this, " Wliatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name 
I will do it. Go ye. therefore, disciple all nations, and lo, 
I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 

The grand motive to seek the office of the ministry is 
love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the decisive test of 
this love, the test which He himself proposed to Peter on 
a certain memorable occasion, is the care of His flock. 
" Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Yea, Lord, thou 
knowest that I love thee dearly. Jesus saith unto him. 
Feed my sheep." But the shepherd's care will not be 
true and tender unless he loves the flock. "And this 
commandment have we from him, that he who lovetli 
God, love his brother also." How much shall we love 
our brethren? "Hereby perceive we the love of Gud, 
because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay 
down our lives for the brethren." How long shall we 
love them ? " What man of you having an hundred 
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety 
and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is 
lost, until he find itf " How long shall Paul continue in 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



187 



Gorintli ? Till every one of God's people that lie can 
possibly reach in that wicked city, is discovered and 
brought into the fold. How long shall Isaiah preach to 
a blind people that have eyes, and to a deaf people tliat 
have ears, and that refuse to be converted and healed ? 
" Then said I, Lord, how long ? And lie answered, until 
the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses 
without man, and the land be utterly desolate." There- 
fore, let whoever is studying for the ministry, desire, 
and pray for, and cultivate, in addition to the things 
already specified, a mighty love for the souls of men. 
Let him count the possession of souls to be the greatest 
and most satisfying riches a man can have. When he 
takes the oversight of a congregation, let him yearn for 
souls, as Paul did when he wrote to the Galatians, " My 
little children, of whom I travail in birth again until 
Christ be formed in you," or to the Corinthians, " I seek 
not yours but you." Let him feel the burden of souls, as 
John Welch, who used to rise at midnight, unconscious 
of the biting cold, to wrestle for hours in prayer for the 
people of his charge; or as Eutherford, whose love for 
his congregation was stronger than death, and which 
broke from his dying lips in ejaculations which a poet 
has thus paraphrased: 

Fair Anworth by the Solway ! 
. To me thou still art dear. 
E'en from the verge of heaven 

I drop for thee a tear. 
O, if one soul from Anworth 

Meet me at God's right hand, 
My heaven will be tw^o heavens 

In Immanuel's land." 



l88 THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



"Wherever tliis deep abiding love of souls and desire 
for their salvation is felt by any one, there a strong pre- 
sumption exists, that the chief Shepherd and Bisliop of 
souls has chosen and ordained him to go and bring forth 
fruit; fruit that shall remain the eternal raonament of 
his divine call. 

Once more, the leadings of Providence in the matter 
of a call are indicated by circumstances. Since God 
orders all the events and affairs of life, it follows that a 
careful study of the situation in which one finds himself, 
especially when accompanied with fervent prayer for 
light, will be likely to result in a good understanding of 
the Lord's will in the matter. A celebrated divine put 
it very strongly to a young man who asked his advice, 
" Do not enter the ministry if you can help it." Jonah 
acted on this principle but he certainly carried it too far. 
When the call is made plain, there is no longer 
room for hesitation. Neither will it do to say, as some 
have said, I am sure it is my duty because I hate it 
so." There must be pulling as well as pushing. Incli- 
nation must be felt, as well as the drawings of Provi- 
dence. Whenever the iMaster says, "Follow me," He 
gives the willingness to follow, though sometimes not 
without a struggle. As in the matter of our salvation, 
so here. He works in ns both to will and to do. 

This matter of providential circumstance needs to be 
handled with great circumspection. Sometimes a youth 
feels an inclination to the ministry but suppresses it, and 
embarks in business and fails. That I would consider a 
providential circumstance. On the other hand, I once 
heard a preacher say he was perfectly sure of his call to 
the ministry, because he had tried every thing else he 



THE CALL TO THE MhWISTRY. 



189 



could think of, without su-^cess. I think he interpreted 
his ciroamstances wrongly. Ue certainly was not a suc- 
cessful minister. 

Sometimes God opens up a way to the ministry by 
closing up every other way, and sometimes He allows 
alluring openings to be presented, to try the sin- 
cerity of one whom He bas called. In general, it 
may be remarked that no one is in danger of mistaking 
the leadings of Providence who casts himself wholly 
upon divine direction and commits himself unreservedly 
to divine disposal. 

Kow, I fancy some of you are thinking, "Is this all ? 
Is there no more immediate o[)eration of the Spirit of 
God upon souls to bring out His will? Is it merely a 
matter of admiration and taste and brawn and brains and 
benevolence and accident? " Let us go softly here. The 
terms I have used admit of greatly enlarged or greatly 
contracted meaning. As I have endeavored to define 
them, it will be no easy matter to meet their require- 
ments. I wish to be understood as speaking of an esteem 
which tends, not to degenerate into admiration, but to 
deepen into reverence; of an aptitude which pervades 
soul and body more and more till it effects a complete 
adjustment of all our talents and capacities. When I 
speak of inclination, I mean a desire which stumbles not 
at poverty, toil, and danger, but offers itself a more than 
willing sacrifice. I mean a love for souls which is more 
than a benevolent feeling for humanity; it is a vehe- 
ment longing for the conversion of the world. And when 
I talk of providential circumstances, I would inculcate 
an implicit faith and childlike dependence on the 



THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 



" Divinity tliat sliapes our ends, rougb-hew tliem bow 
we will." 

Not one of tbese marks of fitness for tbe work can be 
liad unless imparted by tbe band of God. Tbe assertion 
of Jobn Newton is profoundly true: "He alone wbo 
made tbe world, can make a gospel minister." 

In closing, let me offer my congratulations to you wbo 
look forward to tbis tbrice blessed w^ork. 1 trust the 
Head of tbe Cburcb bas given to you, all, to be pastors 
and teacbers after His own beart. I exbort you to make 
your calling and election to tbis office sure. Look upon 
it as tbe gift of Cbrist, as tbe greatest boon, next to 
your own salvation, wbicb it is possible for God to 
bestow. If you bave tbe sligbtest doubt on tbe subject 
of your call, ask God to enligbten you. If you bave 
been weigbing tbe question in the scales of human pru- 
dence, or seeking to determine it by any worldly rule, 
drop at once all such endeavors and say to God, "Make 
plain thy way before me." If you take this course, 
I doubt not 3^ou will socm have occasion to rejoice with 
the Apostle, " Now we have received not tbe spirit of 
this world, but the spirit which is of God ; that we 
might know tbe things that are freely given to us in 
God." 



XIY. 



TEUTH. 

"Buy the truth, and sell it noV^— Proverbs xxiii. 23. 

THAT notable highway, the world's last and greatest' 
wonder, which is suspended in mid air between 
New York and Brooklyn, occupies more space in its ap- 
proaches than in the bridge proper. No one pauses, bow- 
ever, to observe this, but hastens at once to the highest 
point that he may form a better estimate of the noble 
structure as a whole, and enjoy the extended and mag- 
nificent view it affords. So you will pardon me, I think, 
if I omit the preliminaries of rhetorical engineering by 
which a great subject is usually entered upon, and take 
you at once to the tower of observation whence a clear 
view can be had of the wonderful bridge that spans the 
bottomless gulf of death, and connects this island of 
sorrow with the far off mainland of life. Let us take 
it for granted that there is such a thing as truth, and 
that it is to be had in the open market. Let us inquire 
merely wherein this commodity consists, what it costs, 
and how to deal with it so as to secure the largest profit. 

'No weightier apothegm was ever delivered than that 
of the wise man, " Buy the truth." But what is truth ? 
Pilate, you remember, asked this question of Christ. In 
so doing he knocked at the door of the palace of truth, 
and although the King himself stood ready to respond, 
he abruptly turned on his heel like some mischievous 



192 



TRUTH. 



boy who rings a door bell and runs away before tlie door 
can be opened. Let there be no child's play in our 
method of dealing with the subject. Let wrestling 
Jacob, not jesting Pilate, be our model. Let us grapple 
with the question and refuse to let it go without a bless- 
ing. 

Truth is a term of large import. Its range is so broad 
that to find a satisfactory definition is difficult if not im- 
possible. It has received various explanatory titles, es- 
pecially from the poets. Keats and Mrs. Browning say, 
" Truth is beauty ; " Ballou calls it " courage ; " Sir 
Walter terms it, " the speech of a boy-youth ; " Plato 
the Divine identifies it with " God," and Pythagoras with 
"God's daughter;" Coles dubs it " science," and Bailey 
at the other extreme hails it " love ; " by Chaucer it is 
height, " the hiest thing a man may kepe ; " but Emer- 
son soars a flight higher and styles it " the summit of 
being ; " while Milton in no unworthy strain sings of it as 

" Tliat golden key 
That opes the palace of eternity." 

All these epithets are beautiful and suggestive pro- 
vided we already know what truth is, and it may do for 
poets to assume that truth can never be so well appre- 
hended by tuition as by intuition. There is something 
divine within us that claims kinship with the truth and 
enables us to recognize it under manj^ guises and even 
disguises. Still nine-tenths of those who are "of the 
truth," would be puzzled to analj^ze their conception of 
truth and say in what it consists. It will be well, there- 
fore, for us to obtain some definition that really defines 
-what we are talking about. 



TRUTH. 



193 



Now for all practical purposes the Bible is its own 
best dictionary. A text is often like Aaron's rod, one 
dry stick among a dozen ; but take it and lay it up be- 
fore the Lord over night, along with other texts, and in 
the morning you will find its inherent life has budded 
and blossomed and brought forth fruit. A slight com- 
parison of familiar passages will show that truth as used 
here is synonymous with heavenly wisdom. In point of 
fact this is plain from the epexegetical context, that is to 
say, the text has actually blossomed out in the very 
same verse in which it occurs. " Buy the truth and sell 
it not," also — that also is in italics ; it is no part of the 
sacred word, it is only a hindrance ; throw it out. " Buy 
the truth and sell it not ; wisdom and instruction and 
understanding." Take these up in their logical order 
and note what an excellent description of truth they 
afford. Instruction as imparted by a teacher means that 
which may be learned by rote — facts, events, dates, sta- 
tistics. These give to their possessor a well furnished 
mind. But this is only a fragment. Truth means 
understanding as well as instruction ; that is, power to 
use the knowledge of facts, events, dates, statistics. 
Understanding bears the same relation to instruction 
that digestion bears to food ; it assimilates information. 
Instruction makes a well furnished mind, understanding 
makes a well trained mind. Neither is this the whole 
truth. It is not even the most of truth. The best of 
all is, truth is wisdom. It is not simply knowledge or 
power to use knowledge, but this power using this 
knowledge for the highest end. First information, then 
ability, then character. A well stored memory, a well 
13 



194 



TRUTH. 



trained intellect, a well ordered judgment, that is trutli ; 
bud, blossom and ripe fruit. 

Of course it goes without saying that such a mind, no 
matter where it begins to investigate, must come sooner 
or later to a knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus." 
He said, " every one that is of the truth lieareth my 
voice." All roads in the old Koman empire radiated 
from and converged to the golden mile-stone that was 
planted in the forum of the capital. In the kingdom 
which is not of this world all the paths of knowledge 
take their significance and direction from the cross on 
which the incarnate Truth was crucified. This is the 
golden mile-stone to which are turned the footsteps of 
every loyal subject of the truth. It is the beginning of 
all measurements and the end of all approaches. Who- 
ever fails to recognize the crucifixion as the keystone of 
history past, the dominant factor in the problem of life 
present, and the mightiest pledge of life to come, may 
be ever learning, indeed, but will never be able to come 
to the knowledge of the truth. 

Power to use this knowledge means power to become 
the sons of God ; and this power using this knowledge 
for the highest end means faith in the atonement of 
Christ openly confessed and daily exemplified. Truth 
always culminates in Christ. To illustrate this, imagine 
a chest full of jewels and gold sunk in mid-ocean. 
Attached to this chest and stretching out in every direc- 
tion are golden chains. Linked to these and crossing 
them at intervals are other chains which surround the 
chest in a series of widening circles. Furthermore this 
network is interwoven in such a way as to form patterns 
all pointing inward and terminating at the centre. On 



TRUTH. 



the shore the golden links in some places lie exposed, in 
others they are buried out of sight. If a single link be 
found, since it is connected v/ith eveiy other link, it 
affords a sure clew to the concentrated wealth of that 
deep-sunk coffer. By following up the clew, or by haul- 
ing in the net, the whole immense fortune niiglit be 
secured. Such an ocean is eternity, and such a network 
is truth, ends and filaments of which lie along the shore 
of time, some in plain sight but the greater part to be 
reached only by hard and patient digging. If any 
searcher after truth discovers but one link let him pull 
mightily, or let him follow closely and he will find more 
truth. By one small link he is connected with every 
part of the vast system of truth. He may choose to 
keep near the shore and trace the connection between the 
links of the outermost circles and he will be the richer 
for that — he will call himself a scientist — but if he desires 
the ripest wisdom he must follow the lines that lead to 
the heart of the labyrinth where all the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge are hid in the person of Christ. 
This exploit is one that far transcends the ability of the 
natural man. " Canst thou by searching find out God ? 
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is 
high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; 
what canst thou know?" The "deep, unfathomed 
caves" of this ocean will never yield up their secret gems 
to man until he is " endued with power from on high ; " 
as it is written, " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him; but God hath 
revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit 
searcheth all things, yea^ the deep things of God." " Then 



196 



TRUTH. 



shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord." " I 
am the truth ... he that loveth me ... I will manifest 
myself unto him." 

The lirst requisite for a successful business enterprise 
is to know what to buy, and the second is like unto it, 
even to know what to pay. What is the market value 
of truth, such as I have described it ? This question 
filled Job with eloquent despair. " Man knoweth not the 
price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of 
Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. No men- 
tion shall be made of coral or of pearls ; for the price of 
wisdom is above rubies." The text implies, however, 
that the article can be procured. The command is 
unlimited, "Buy." In commercial phrase that is 
to say, " make the best bargain you can, but buy." 
The gospel narrative tells of one who staggered at 
the amount demanded. He thought he would buy 
the truth, and he came to the right market, but 
when he had priced the goods he "went away sor- 
rowful." He had enough money, too, for he was 
very rich, but it would take all his great possessions, 
and he refused to give so much in exchange for liis 
soul. He went away sorrowfully but — he went awaj^ 

I stand in presence of a goodly company of youth 
whose sojourn in these classic halls is sufficient evidence 
that they seek the ripest wisdom. In some respects at 
least, you are like the young ruler. He was so eager in 
the pursuit of knowledge, that he came running to the 
great Teacher; so determined in his quest, that he burst 
through the crowd as if he would take the kingdom of 
truth by violence ; yet so reverent in his enthusiasm, 
that he knelt at that Teacher's feet and humbly caUed 



TRUTH, 



Him, Master. So attractive was lie in appearance, so^ 
apparent]/ sincere, and so unconscious of evil in its 
grosser forms, that we read, " Jesus beholding him, 
loved him." 

In fellowship with that affection, my heart goes out to 
you ; nay, — it is the Master himself who bends an eye of 
tender regard upon you and sends one — like yourselves, 
a lover of truth — to voice his message, saying, " Go, speak 
in my name to these thy fellow students, and preach 
unto them the preaching that I bid thee." If I were to 
search the Bible through for a message that puts in 
smallest compass, the mightiest considerations adapted to 
your case and fit to be urged upon you at such a time 
could I find a precept more useful than this, " Buy the 
truth and sell it not ? " O that your likeness to the 
young ruler may not be complete 1 God forbid that you 
should haggle about the price of wisdom, and turn back 
because the truth comes at a higher figure than you ex- 
pected. 

It is useless to deny that this commodity is expensive. 
He that would buy it must undergo labor like Hercules 
and meet danger like pearl-divers, and endure persecu- 
tion like martyrs and make sacrifices like sailors in a 
storm. He must be ready to pay any price, take any 
risk and count the world well lost for truth. Let me 
specify some of the items in this cost : 

In all its grades, truth costs close and patient applica- 
tion. Sir Isaac New ton declared that his great dis- 
coveries were made by " keeping the problem, always be- 
fore him." The inventions that have revolutionized 
societ}'- came about in the same way. The world will 
never pause to estimate the amount of steady, patient toil 



TRUTH. 



expended to secure every one of the commonplace 
luxuries of life, but you and I must keep all these things 
and ponder tliem in our heart, if we are to engage in 
search of truth. When we wrap ourselves in a water- 
proof garment let us remember tliat Goodyear spent a 
fortune and a lifetime before he accidentally vulcanized a 
piece of rubber. Mark you, great discoveries have been, 
as it were, stumbled upon, but never by any except a 
patient toiler. When our Bible falls open at Romans I. 
17, and we read that the just shall live by faith, let us 
remember that Luther wrestled in long agony before he 
chanced upon a copy of the scriptures, and almost equally 
long before lie found in it the famous doctrine which at 
one blow smote the fetters from his soul and the sceptre 
from the papacy. Let this fact be a stimulus and 
encouragement to your labors. " Therefore, my beloved 
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding 
in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
labor is not in vain in the Lord." 

Courage also is a prime requisite in this business. 
Devotion to the truth may lead you to pine in a dungeon 
like Jeremiah, or it may lead you through a dungeon to 
a throne, like the son of Jacob. You may die on a scaf- 
fold amid curses and laughter like John Brown, or you 
may come to your grave in a ripe old age with your 
life-work fully accomplished and your name honored to 
the ends of the earth, like Wendell Phillips or Ashley 
Cooper ; but in any case you will meet with much oppo- 
sition and often be compelled to stand alone. It is not 
now the fashion to burn, hang or behead any one on 
account of his convictions, but there is no assurance that 
the old fashion will not be in vogue again ; and apart 



TRUTH. 



from loss of life or limb tliere is no lack of opportunity 
to inflict pain upon the conscientious truth-seeker. Every 
one who devotes himself to this business must lay his 
account to meet antagonistic forces as malignant and 
powerful as ever were fabled to guard the hiding place 
of some fairy treasure. " For we wrestle not against 
flesh and blood, bat against principalities, against 
powers, against world -rulers of darkness and hosts of 
wicked spirits." 

More than this, you must be prepared for the opposi- 
tion of friends whom you love better than life. Many a 
Samson has smitten his open foes hip and thigh with a 
great slaughter, to be undone by the friend of his bosom ; 
and that, too, where the friend meant only kindness. 
The friendship of Delilah was not more deadly than that 
of Mary, Queen of Scots, or that of Geta, the Eoman 
emperor. Eobert Barns was led into his worst excess— 
the sin for which ho apology can be attempted by his 
warmest admirer — through the influence of his dearest 
friend. Take the great example of all. We can well 
believe it took more real courage in the Saviour to 
rebuke the well-meant but Satanic suggestion of Peter, 
than to face the mob in the temple, or the soldiers in the 
garden, or the Sanhedrim in the palace. 

But the most redoubtable antagonist of all is the truth 
itself ; the cold, calm truth that looks severely down upon 
the fluctuations of opinion and passion, as the' Sphinx 
regards the shifting sands of Egypt. Like that riddle 
of the ages, truth may be at different times half or wholly 
concealed from view ; but whether completely obscured 
or laid bare in all its native majesty, it is insensible 
alike to the feelings of those who reverently inquire into 



200 



TRUTH. 



its meaning, and of those who cliip off fragments in idle 
curiosity. To accept unwelcome truth for its own sake 
requires a higher degree of courage than to fight all 
human and hellish foes combined. 

Show me a man who shrinks not from the charge of 
inconsistency, but alters his scheme of thinking and liv- 
ing, to accord with truth, as it is known in larger measure, 
and I will show you a hero indeed. AYhich was Luther's 
bravest act? defending the theses? burning the papal 
bull? defying the Imperial Diet ? These were brave 
deeds, but a sublimer courage was needed to break his 
monastic vow and induce Catharine Bora to break hers. 

Just now another illustration of this form of courage 
is attracting marked attention. The most widely and 
favorably known statesman in the world to-day is 
reviled, and lampooned, and hated Avith a venomous 
energy seldom surpassed, because he has accepted and 
undertaken to apply the despised truth, that the law of 
love is a power even in politics, and may be trusted to 
accomplish a task wherein brute force has proved an 
utter and ignominious failure. Whatever may be the 
issue to haughty England or unhappy Ireland of the 
present struggle in the British Parliament, the courage 
of Gladstone in placing himself by the fair form of truth, 
though spattered wnth tilth and repudiated wnth scorn by 
the so called noble of the land, deserves the admiration 
of the civilized world, and may well be set before the 
rising generation of this giant republic, as a worthy 
example of truth purchased at unspeakable cost. 

A third requisite to success in this mart where truth is 
bought and sold is zeal. Longfellow tells, in his 
recently published di^ry, that Agassiz, when on a visit 



TRUTH. 



20 1 



to h-im, barst into tears on account of his growing infir- 
mities, saying, " I cannot work." The intense zeal of 
the great naturalist doubtless shortened his days, but 
without it, where would be his honor ? Be zealous of 
truth, even if it cuts you off' in the midst of your life. 
Better die early having accomplished somewhat, than 
live long for the mere sake of living. 

It is not often that zeal kills, but if it were always so, 
it were better to pay the last farthing and die on the 
threshold of truth than to live forever in the tents of 
sloth fulness. It is far better than the longest life of 
idle selfishness, to lie down with the great, the wise, the 
good, who in some true sense gave their lives for others. 

Passing to a third inquiry. How are we to deal with 
truth so as to secure the largest returns from our invest- 
ment? The answer is: "Sell it not." It is a lamen- 
table fact that some dispose of their stock in the truth at 
a ruinous figure. They are generally such as pride them- 
selves too much on their business qualities. Judas 
carried the bag because he was apt at business methods, 
but oh, what a poor bargain he drove with the chief 
priests when the god of this world took full possession 
of his dark heart ! The truth, for thirty bits ! Sell it not, 
sell it not, SELL IT NOT ! How incisive and complete is 
that monition! What then? If you may not sell it, 
how shall you deal with it? 

Deal with it lovingly. Eefuse to sell because you 
prize the article for its own sake beyond the power of 
any purchaser. Love the truth, not merely in the pur- 
suit, but in the possession — Shakespeare to the contrary 
notwithstanding. Love it with all your heart and soul. 
Love it so as to know it under any disguise, welcome it 



202 



TRUTH. 



in any condition, enthrone it in heart and life. Make it 
yours to have and to hold, to keep and to cherish in 
sickness and health, in poverty and wealth, in evil report 
and good report, through all chance and change, until 
death removes all danger of parting you from each other. 

Louis XIY, the Magnificent, never did a more magnifi- 
cent thing than when he received James the Exile with 
royal honors, lodged him in a palace, and provided him 
with ample means of sustaining his high pretensions; 
but this noble action is outdone when any humble heart 
harbors a proscribed truth. 

Young men, if you feel the hot blood tingling in your 
veins at the tales of chivalry, let me commend to you a 
way in which all the enthusiasm of your nature may find 
legitimate exercise. Let Truth be the fair damsel in 
whose behalf you buckle on the armor of life. Scour 
the world in search of your treasure-trove. Batter down 
the dungeon doors of ignorance ; grapple in mortal com- 
bat with the dragons of prejudice ; run a tilt at outrance 
with the doughty knights of falsehood ; proclaim war to 
the death with the proud champions of error ; and when 
at last your labors meet with success, and the object of 
your fond desires and dreams and toils is found, per- 
chance clothed in rags, and at home with outcasts, then 
let not your love be chilled or changed. Eecognize the 
mistress of j^our soul. Banish the traces of her low 
estate. Make it your life long care to cherish her per- 
son, to win her af[:ections, and to compel the homage of 
the world to her exalted beauty. Act over again the 
part of that ancient king, described by Tennyson; 

" Her arms across her breast she laid ; 

Slie was more fair than words can say^ 



TRUTH. 203 

Bare-footed came the beggar maid 
Before tlie king, Coplietua. 

In robes and crown the king stepped down 

To meet and greet her on tlie way. 
It is no wonder said liis lords, 
She is more beautiful than day. 

So sweet a face, such angel grace, 
In all that land had never been. 
Coplietua sware a royal oath 

This beggar maid shall be my queen^ 

I, deal with tratli generously. Sell it not, but 
give it. Keep it for yourself by sharing it with others. 
Like the widow's pot of oil it will suffice to fill all your 
neighbors' vessels and be no whit diminished in your 
own. Beware of the miser's mistake. You cannot hoard 
the truth. It is like tlie manna of the desert. You may 
gather what you need to use ; beyond this it will breed 
worms. A farmer died near my home who had refused 
to sell his wheat for twenty years. He heaped it up in 
massive piles, and when he became food for worms the 
grain was found to be in the same condition. You need 
never attempt to make a ^' corner " in this market. You 
might as well fill a house with sunshine and then pro- 
ceed to monopolize the light by drawing the curtains 
and bolting doors and shutters. You might as well take 
your knife and cut a sunbeam in two, hoping to carry off 
the severed piece and use it for a candle. The moment 
you sever its connection with the sun, that moment it 
flies your touch. It is so with truth. To keep what 
you have you must be constantly both giving out and 
taking in. 




204 



TRUTH. 



Once more, deal with trath faithfully. If you 
may neither sell nor hide it, then you must maintain 
and defend it against all comers. Tennyson has a grand 
Welsh motto laid in mosaic in the tiles of the entrance 
to his beautiful home : " The truth against the world." 
Tbis implies tliat the world not only may be, but often 
is opposed to the truth. You may be so fortunate as to 
find yourself in a majority who are devoted to the truth. 
There is no objection to such a state of things, provided 
you settle it squarely in your own mind, not that you 
are going with the majority, but that the majority is 
going with you, and you are going with the truth. But 
in many cases you will not find the truth where Napo- 
leon said it was — on the side of the heaviest battalions. 
You will be placed like Horatius at the bridge, with an 
army before you and only a friend or two at your side; 
or like Elijah on the summit of Carmel, alone for truth, 
and fronted by hundreds of prophets of Baal. In such a 
case truth becomes synonymous with duty, and courage, 
which is part of the cost price of truth, must be subli- 
mated into fidelity. Buy the truth and sell it not. Be 
patient, and brave, and zealous in investigation ; be cau- 
tious and honest in conclusion, and then take your stand 
for the truth like the Eoman soldier whose bones were 
found in the sentry box at the gate of Ilerculaneum. If 
all is quiet, well and good, keep your post in quiet vigi- 
lance ; if an uproar is made still keep your post and do 
your customary duty ; if the mountains are heaved from 
their bases and the ocean is frightened from its bed, if 
Yesuvius hurls itself into the sea, and buries the city in 
its terrible eruption, keep your post and let the antiqua- 
ries of two thousand years hence, if only they will dig 



TRUTH. 



205 



deep enougli in the dust and ashes of the past, find your 
very bones bearing unimpeachable witness to your fidel- 
ity to the truth. 

" God is our strength and refuge higb, 

A sure and present help is he, 
When dark and troublous days are nigh ; 

Hence free from fear our hearts shall be. 
Though earthquakes move the world 
And hills, 'midst seas be hurled. 
The waters of the deep 
In turmoil roar and leap, 
And swelling shake the mountains steep." 

Do you tell me that the age of heroism is past ? For 
as high an example of fidelity to duty as was ever sup- 
plied by Eoman discipline or mediaeval chivalry, I point 
you to that engineer who went down to death the first of 
last May in a landslide in the Mohawk valley. He 
knew another express would be along in two minutes 
from the west, and as his engine broke from the train 
and took the fatal plunge, with his hand on the reversed 
lever and his heart fixed on duty, he shouted back from 
the jaws of destruction, Flag the other train, boys." 
That was a deed worthy of the noblest Eoman of them 
all. If old Eome honored the memory of Curtius who 
leaped into the Gulf on her behalf, then let modern 
Christendom revere the name of Edward Kennah as of one 
who counted not his life dear unto himself that he might 
save others. It was more than a deed of courage. It 
was more than self-sacrifice ; it was utter self- forgetful- 
ness through fidelity to duty. Be thou faithful unto 
death and thou shalt have a crown of life. 



206 



TRUTH. 



Have you bouglit tlie truth ? I do not mean the truth 
of the binomial theorem, or of Kepler's laws or of Aris- 
totle's syllogism, but the truth as it is in Jesus? If the 
heart of any student here sinks with the heavy conviction 
that an honest answer to this appeal must be a confess- 
ion of ignorance on this topic, then allow me in all can- 
dor to remind you that j^ou know nothing yet as you 
ought to know. Of what value is all your knowledge 
apart from the knowledge of eternal life ? To what pur- 
pose do you labor to pile up a vast and varied store of 
learning ? Yours is 

" The toil 
Of dropping buckets into empty wells 
And growing old in drawing nothing up." 

You may indeed take much satisfaction in digging 
after truth, but the sweets of such employment will turn 
to bitterness, when the thunders of Judgment are heard 
in your soul ; and in most cases its folly will be demon- 
strated even in this life. In vain will you seek to quench 
your thirst at the well-springs of earthly truth. Over 
every such fountain might be inscribed the Saviour's 
words: " AYhosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst 
again." Only the highest truth can satisfy the soul. 

I ask again: Have you bought the truth. If not, now 
is your opportunity. Now, while your hearts beat high 
with hope; now, while your limbs rejoice in strength; 
now, while your minds are fresh and vigorous and eager; 
NOW is the time to buy. Bear with me in redoubling 
this exhortation. The wisdom of this world, at best, 
will only half equip you for the struggle of life. A hali 
truth is worse than a whole lie. 



TRUTH, 



207 



iN'ear the town of Deerfield, tlie Housatonic railroad is 
laid in the face of a very steep hill. To save expense 
the workmen blasted a little way into the rock and used 
the fragments to level up the outer side. They filled the 
chinks with dirt and pounded it down, and laid one rail 
on the solid rock, and the other on this disjointed rubble 
and went their way. For a time the bed was firm, and 
a thousand trains thundered safely along. But about a 
year ago a heavy storm })Oured like a deluge down the 
sides of that hill. The soft earth was washed out from 
between the loose stones, and when the next train, with 
its hundreds of precious lives, leaned its weight upon that 
foundation, the outer rail sank far enough to precipitate 
the whole train with its precious burden, two hundred 
feet down to a doom of indescribable horror. 

Dear friends, if you have been building the road-bed 
of your life's journey on such a rubble foundation, be 
sure of this: a day of storm is coining that will try 
every man's work, of what sort it is. Dig deeper, blast 
further in, and rest your whole weight on the living 
Eock of Ages. 

Having learned the truth as it is in Jesus, are you 
done with study? Have you graduated from the col- 
lege of the seven pillars? Suppose I were to find you 
on the shore with the chest of gold and jewels which you 
had just drawn from the sea, would you consider that 
you had only to sit down for the rest of your days and 
gloat over your good fortune ? Or w^ould you not rather 
toll me that your efforts had only begun ? That untold, 
treasure must be counted and accounted for, piece by 
piece. That sparkling diamond, fit for a king's ransom, 
must be cut and polished and set in a framework of 



208 



TRUTH. 



smaller gems, to "be worn bj the one whcm jon love 
best on earth. That mass of bullion must be molded 
into available currency and put into circulation. The 
mass of that agglomerated wealth must be invested in a 
way to bring in the greatest possible income. 

Is it so, that riches to be enjoyed must be used and 
made productive ? Even so deal with your treasure of 
truth. It must not be hid in a napkin nor buried in the 
earth, but handled and invested and applied to the uses 
of life, and made to multiply itself for the general good. 
It is not your very own to do with as you please. It is 
a sacred trust to be administered in the name of Christ, 
and, so far as you can reach them, for the redemption of 
those who are held in the bondage of corruption, of fear, 
and of falsehood. The number of such slaves can 
scarcely be overestimated. The poet says, 

*' I sum up half mankind, 
And add two thirds of the remaining half, 
And find the total of their hopes and fears. 
Dreams, empty dreams.'* 

But the Apostle John does not deal in fractions. He 
says, " We know the ichoJe ivorld lieth in the wicked 
one." To snatch the world from the lap of Satan is the 
work of Almighty Wisdom and Power. To assist in 
this glorious task is the high honor put upon all who 
know the truth. As Joseph bought up all the spare corn 
of Egypt, and held it for the salvation of a starving peo- 
ple, so let us buy the truth and sell it not until the whole 
world, now enthralled in ignorance and deceit by the 
prince of darkness and father of lies, shall be trium- 
phantly enrolled under the banner of God. 



TRUTH. 



209 



Permit me, in closing, to adapt and apply to this ban- 
ner of the cross, what Daniel Webster once said of the 
American flag. May that gorgeous ensign of redemp- 
tion soon be known and honored throughout the whole 
earth ; full high advanced above all other standards, its 
arms and tropliies gleaming in all the original lustre of 
Calvary, bearing for its motto, no such miserable inter- 
rogatory as, " What is all this worth ? " nor those other 
words of delusion and folly, " Liberty first and truth after- 
wards," but every where, spread all over in characters of 
living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float 
over the land and the sea, and in every wind under the 
whole heavens, that other true sentiment dear to every 
Christian heart, "Jesus Cpirist, the Way and the 
Truth and the Life, the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever." 

14 



XY. 



CONYINCING THE WOKLD OF EIGHTEOUS- 
NESS. 

" And when he is come, he will reprove the world ... of right- 
eousness, because I go to mj father, and ye see me no more." — John, 
xvi. 8-10. 

THE great sin into wbich all otber sins flow, and out 
of which tliey are drawn, in a circuit as complete 
and constant as that wherein the rivers run to the sea 
and back through the clouds to their fountains, is the 
sin of unbelief. "He that believeth not shall be damned." 
That covers the whole ground. When the Holy Spirit 
convicts a man of sin, he convicts him of unbelief in 
the anointed Saviour from sin. And this conviction is 
not utter, until the soul, sinking and drowning — and yet 
forever forbidden to altogether sink and drown — in the 
Dead Sea of sin, looks up and catches a view of the 
Jerusalem heights of holiness in the person of a once 
crucified, but now exalted, Christ. To be down there in 
the depths, tasting tlie bitter waters of death, sharing the 
doom of Sodom, conscious of never-ending defilement 
and never- to-be-satisfied ^thirst, and never-dying remorse, 
is surely bad enough ; but to look up and see the ample 
provision that was made for the salvation of all, and to 
see countless myriads of fellow -sinners embalmed, body 
and soul, in perfect and perpetual righteousness, — this 
multiplies woe a thousand-fold, and renders the notion of 

2IO 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



21 I 



a pliysical hell, witli its fire and brimstone, absolately 
desirable, if only bj means of bodily torment to distract 
the mind and relieve it from tlie transports of fury engen- 
dered by such a contrast. If the picture is repuls.ve, 
let us bear in mind that it need never be more than a 
picture to ns, in whom, thank God, sin has not yet fin- 
ished its deadly work. In order that we may never 
behold righteousness from afar, as it appeared to Dives, 
let us now open our ears to the voice of that Spirit who 
spoke by Isaiah, saying, " Heai'ken unto me, ye stout- 
hearted, that are far from righteousness. I bi-ing near 
my righteousness ; it shall not be far ofi', and my salva- 
tion shall not tarry." Let us open our hearts to the work 
of the Spirit, who comes to reprove or convince the world 
of righteousness, because Christ, the Son, has returned to 
the bosom of the Father. 

Two questions are suggested by the text: What is 
the righteousness here spoken of, and how is it attested 
by the coming of the Spirit? 

I understand the Saviour to be speaking of his own 
vindication in the whole range of his personal and offi- 
cial character. That righteousness of which the world 
is to be convinced is the righteousness of Christ, mani- 
fested no less in liis work than in Ms person. It means 
far more than his blameless life. The Holy Ghost was 
not needed from heaven to tell us that his character was 
good, his life innocent, and his purpose beneficent. His 
patient, yet majestic bearing, his living love and his 
dying prayer, were sufficient to force fi'om the lips of 
such as Herod, Pilate, and the executioner himself, the 
confession of his perfect probity. » " I find no fault in 



212 



COiYVIXCING THE WORLD. 



him, no, nor yet Herod." ^' Truly this was a righteous 
man." 

Grand as these testimonies are, they fall short of our 
need. John Brown might be a good man, one of the 
kindest, bravest, truest, that ever lived ; but his personal 
character would not avail to loosen one link of the chain 
that bound black millions in our land. It was the com- 
ing of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts and minds of 
men, it was the publication of " a fiery gospel writ in 
rows of burnished steel," that testified of the mission of 
this forerunner of freedom as of the old Baptist: "There 
was a man sent from God, whose name was John." 
Those who ppeak raost highly of Christ as a man and 
teacher, may be found among the ranks of Unitarians 
and infidels. It would not be dif&cnlt to compile a vol- 
ume of such testimonials of the most exalted, not to say 
extravagant, character, all of which are so mnch trash, — 
mere advertising puff's — so far as the proper effect on the 
lives of the witnesses themselves is concerned. Is it not 
strange that unbelievers should entertain and express so 
lofty an opinion of Christ's moral character, and yet 
remain unbelievers? Herod and Pilate, Judas and 
Josephus, Tacitus and Pliny, Celsus and Lucian, Porphyry 
and Julian, Chubb and Diderot, Eousseau and ^^apoleon, 
Goethe and Eichter, Strauss and Parker, Bauer and Car- 
lyle, Pecaut and Eenan, and last and least, Eobert Inger- 
soll, admire and extol Jesus Christ. He lived a beauti- 
ful life, say they. He spoke beautiful words. He meant 
well. Give him great credit. But that righteousness 
which Christ claimed, and which the coming of the 
Spirit is to establish, goes beyond personal character. 
It concerns his life work and his heavenly office. When 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



213 



Jesus talked about his Father in the words which have 
been recorded for our profit, he not oulj said, " I have 
manifested tb j name unto the world," but also, " I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Tiiis 
work was the redemption of a lost race, and it required 
more than a perfect life. It demanded, and received, an 
atoning death. " And being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath 
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Let us, then, make a distinction between the person 
and work of Christ. It is possible for a man to be upright, 
and yet fail when tested in his work. Jolm Law was 
honest, charitable and public-spirited, but his financial 
work was the ruin of himself and the nation he attempted 
to serve. A similar judgment must be pronounced upon 
the indefatigable old Frenchman, who has devoted all 
his energies to the cutting in twain of this western hem- 
isphere by a stupendous ship canal. But the work of 
Christ was " finished," so that no one of the doomed 
race needed to perish for lack of a sufficient atonement. 
The reconciliation of God is complete, and the righteous- 
ness of Christ in achieving this work is one thing of 
which the world is to be convinced by the coming of the 
Spirit. 

Let us make a further distinction. A man maybe per- 
sonally pure, and may accomplish a good work for him- 
self and others, and yet be officially subject to blame. 
Oliver Cromwell was a good man, and he wrought well 



214 CONVINCING THE WORLD. 

for England, but lie was a usQijier. He new-modeled tlie 
army and new-modeled the State, but what shall we say 
of his grasping at supreme powder, and seeking to trans- 
mit it to his son? To show, as with a lightning fiasli, 
his shortcoming in official righteousness, stand him up 
beside Washington ! In character and achievement 
Cromwell was commendable, but in official position he 
was " a throned lie." Christ was righteous, not accord- 
ing to the standard of morality merely, nor yet by com- 
parison with human examples, but divinely righteous as 
man, as Redeemer, and as Mediator. 

What a vast distance between God, the infinite, eternal 
Creator, and man, the creature who lives but a few score 
years! And now man, by his sin, has erected across that 
distance a barrier which he cannot pass. Where shall 
one be found who has the will and the power to remove 
tliis barrier, and bring man again into fellowship with 
God ? Christ undertakes and accomplishes this divine 
and gracious work. He unites the human and divine, 
and so brings God and man into fellowship ; and the 
Holy Spirit comes to convince the world that this mys- 
terious union has been effected; that Christ Jesus is the 
Mediator between God and man; that he loves man as he 
loves God ; that he is the Son of God, the Fellow of 
Jehovah, tliesame in substance, equal m power and glory ; 
and also the Son of man, subject to temptation, limited 
by time and place and circumstance, and that he is 
cliarged with a message of good- will, to the intent that 
any man may become a partaker with him of the divine 
nnture and a possessor of the divine glory. 

Without controversy, this is a tremendous claim. It 
will require very strong and clear evidence to establish 



CONVINCING THE WORLD, 



215 



it firmlj. The man who claimed the Tichborne estate 
in England produced evidence tliat would probably have 
put him in fall possession had the claim been a moderate 
one. But an ancient family property and position in a 
great kingdom demanded infallible proof. Much more 
shall it be required of him who, in sober earnest, claims 
the earth, that he shall diSpel every reasonable doubt of 
his title. Let us sift the evidence carefully, giving it 
neither more nor less than due weight. Nor is the pro- 
cess lengthy, for, to our surprise, he calls on his behalf 
one solitary Witness. " And when he is come, he will 
convince the world of righteousness, because I go to my 
Father, and ye see me no more." 

Witli this Witness we have now to deal. So compe- 
tent is he, and so fully possessed of Christ's confidence, 
that our Lord not only leaves the case in his hands, but 
himself goes away, as if it were already gained. Indeed, 
his claim is strengthened by his absence, for, on the sup- 
position that he came forth from God to do a special 
work, the fact that he returned to the Father, and was 
seen no more on earth, is evidence that he has fully dis- 
charged his trust, else would God have sent him back 
again. "General," said an aide-de-camp, in the course 

of a famous battle, " General, Colonel sends me to 

report that he has taken a standard." No notice was 
taken of this communication by the pre-occupied Gen- 
eral ; so it was repeated : " Oeneral^ we have taken a 
standard.^'' At once came the gruff response : "Then 
take another." When Jesus went up to report his vict- 
ory over sin, death and hell, there was no standard left 
in all the ranks of the enemy. Lucifer had fallen from 
lieaven like a shooting star. His blaze was quenched 



2l6 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



in the gloom of tlie pit. Ilis bolts were harmless hence- 
forth, so that Christ could say: "The prince of this 
world Cometh, and hath nothing in me." 

Since, however, the disappearance of Christ Avould not 
avail to show either that he came from or went to God, 
we need some plain demonstration that, in coming and 
in working and in going, he had the sanction of the 
Father. This is afforded, in a verj^ peculiar manner, by 
the coming of the Holy Ghost. It would have been very 
easy for Christ to cite the voice from heaven at his bap- 
tism, and again at his transfiguration, or the transfigura- 
tion itself, or the wonders he had wrought, or the crown- 
ing sign of his own resurrection, as conclusive proof of 
righteousness before God ; for " who could do these mir- 
acles except God was with him? " Instead, he chose to 
hinge his whole case on the coming of the Spirit. When, 
therefore, the day of Pentecost arrived, and there came 
from heaven the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and 
the appearance of tongues of fire, then Peter, filled with 
the Holy Ghost, voiced the convictions of the eleven as 
to the righteousness of Christ, saying, " This Jesus did 
God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being, there- 
fore, by the right hand of God exalted, and having re- 
ceived of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 
hath poured forth this which ye see and hear." 

Thou liast, O Lord, with glory 

Ascended up again, 
And captive led captivity 

Triumphant in Thy train. 
To Thee have gifts been granted 

For men who did rebel, 
That so the Lord Jehovah 

In midst of them might dwell." 



CONVINCING THE WORLD, 



217 



Here, then, is the argument for tlie rigliteousness of 
Christ. He said he was going into heaven, and would, 
in conjunction with the Father, send down a substitute, 
who should emphatically testify of him ; who should re- 
call his teachings and explain them ; who should abide 
with the disciples, leading them and fitting them to lead 
others into the truth, till the whole world was convinced 
of his righteousness. Accordingly, Christ departs and 
the Spirit actuall}^ comes. He brings to the apostles a 
knowledge of Christ, attachment to Christ and reliance 
on Christ, such as they never had before. Surely the 
Son is righteous, even as the Father is righteous. 

To make this very plain, let me use an illustration: 
A division commander, on a field of battle, says to his 
next in rank : " I am instructed to make over my com- 
mand to you and report at headquarters." But the sub- 
ordinate does not feel equal to the emergency. He has 
never had charge of a division, and the time is critical. 
The enemy is attacking in force and pressing hard for 
an advantage. It was all they both could do to hold 
their ground, and he fears instant and overwhelming 
disaster if left to his own resources. He would object, 
but the order is imperative. His senior sees that he is 
troubled, and takes hi m by the hand, saying : " Courage, 
old fellow. I'll tell the general just how it is, and I'll 
make him send you a brigade from the reserve. Look 
out for reinforcements. Good-bye." Then he parts 
from him like a thunderbolt, and disappears in the cloud 
of dust and smoke. And the lonely man, by whom 
the brunt of this terrible battle must now be borne, 
girds up his loins for the struggle and fights bravely on. 
If he can hold his position a little longer, and if his friend 



2I8 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



gets safe to headquarters, and if, when there, his influence 
is great enough to secure the needed help, then victory will 
be his. How keenly he scans, from time to time, the 
crest of the hill, back of which he knows the reserve is 
posted ! And when at length his patient courage is 
rewarded ; when he sees a line of bayonets, and then a 
line of men, appearing over the slope ; when he hears 
the sliout of onset from those fresh forces, and the 
response of welcome from his own tired and wasted 
troops ; when he feels the ground tremble under the 
steady and rapid foot-falls, and opens his ranks to give 
room for the charge, then he knows as well as if all the 
aides in the army had told him that his glorious old 
commander has overcome all obstacles and kept his 
parting pledge. 

Thus, when Christ told of his departure, sorrow filled 
the hearts of his disciples, for their enemies were many 
and active and bitter; but when he promised reinforce- 
ments they bided their time at Jerusalem, girding on the 
panoply of prayer ; and when the reinforcements came, 
when all the place was shaken by the rush of heavenly 
squadrons, then they had abundant evidence of his 
faithfulness who had promised, and of his righteousness 
who had performed. 

Consider further the effect upon the disciples of the 
Spirit's coming. If Christ was righteous in speech, that 
effect must be greater than was wrought by his personal 
presence ; for he said that it was expedient for them 
that he should go away in order that his Comforter 
might come. Unless, therefore, it appears that tlie 
Holy Ghost fitted the disciples for worship and work, 
better than Christ himself had done, his righteousness 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 219 



stands impeached, and lie is fairly open to the charge of 
forgery, when, in writing to the Laodiceans he signed 
himself, "The Amen, the faithful and true witness." 
What change for the better was wrought in the apostles 
by their Pentecostal experience? We are so familiar 
with the phenomenon that we need to pause and ponder, 
lest its starthng significance should escape us. Never 
besides, in all the world's history, it may safely be 
asserted, was such a transformation wrought in mortal 
men, as came over Christ's disciples on that occasion. It 
is not so rare a thing for some man, of vast natural en- 
dowments, to spend much of his life in comparative 
indolence and inaction, because of sluggish temperament 
or unfavorable circumstances, and then leap, at a bound, 
into liis proper place. Had the sword not pierced the 
lady of Ellerslie, William Wallace might have been 
unknown to fame. But for the slaughter at the Carron, 
Eobert Bruce might have been no more than a belted 
earl. But for civil war in their respective countries, a 
middle-aged farmer in Huntingdonshire, England, and a 
middle-aged tanner in Galena, Illinois, would never have 
been known as each the greatest captain of bis age. 
Unquestionably many a man of genius slambers out a 
life of ignoble ease, because the clarion call of a great 
emergency never vibrated through his soul. Visit any 
cemetery, and you may read, with Gray's elegy in mind, 
names that might have vied with the greatest in the 
world's esteem. Still it remains true that man never 
was, and never could be, raised .to deeds of which his 
natural powers were altogether incapable, except in the 
single instance recorded in the second chapter of Acts. 
The change there described is not simply the energetic 



220 CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



use of faculties already possessed, but the manifestation 
of pov/ers then and there conferred, to the utmost extent, 
and beyond it, of what nature is capable — power to 
speak any language, power to heal the sick, power to 
cast out demons, power to raise the dead. From plain, 
unlettered fishermen, whose skill is exhausted in making 
a good haul of fish, and disposing of it to advantage, 
and whose knowledge is bounded by the rim of the Gali- 
lee basin, they spring up into princes of Israel, able to 
deal with men the world over, as they have dealt with 
the finny tribes of Gennesaret. From petty squabbles 
about precedence among twelve, they rise in a moment 
to contest the palm of superiority with the greatest, not 
only of their own age and race, but of all the earth in 
all ages. Call the roll of law-givers, statesmen and 
philosophers that have adorned humanity, and their 
very enemies will adjudge these lowly- born and meanly- 
nurtured men a place among the foremost. 

But the most surprising change is not in their intellec- 
tual capacity, nor yet in their miraculous gifts. It is to 
be noted in their moral character. They were cowards, 
they were cruel, they were, in many respects, contempti- 
ble, though following Christ and learning of him. It 
seems incredible that any human being could eat and 
sleep for years in fellowship with Jesus and not giow 
like him in gentleness and magnanimity. Yet, of these 
chosen and favored associates, one was, and continued to 
be, a devil, and all the rest kept the level of superstition, 
bigotry and boorishness, on which the common herd of 
Judean peasants had grovelled for centuries. Such were 
they still on the forty-ninth day after the eventful Pass- 
over, at which their Leader was taken from them. One 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



221 



day more has fully come, and what are they now ? The 
noblest of mankind ! They are capable of turning the 
world upside down, so great is the transformation 
wrought in themselves. They live in a new atmosphere ; 
they breathe a different spirit. Before, they were 
scarcely fit to pour water on the hands of the least 
prophet of tlie old dispensation, now they can share 
in the writing of the New Testament, which, for moral 
grandeur — to say nothing of mental grasp and spiritual 
tone- — immeasurably outranks all the combined product- 
ions of human genius and learning that ever were writ- 
ten. Formerly, the boldest of them trembled at the 
rebuke of a maid-servant, and all fled, panic stricken, at 
the approacli of a few policemen, with the customary 
rabble at their heels; now they can stand, undismayed, 
before governors and kings, giving to every man that 
asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them. This, 
too, at the risk of being used for torches to light up a 
tyrant's parade, or of being thrown, as so much cheap 
and useful flesh, to glut the stomachs of hungry wild 
beasts! "Kone of these things move them; neither 
count they their lives dear unto themselves, so that they 
may accomplish the ministry which they received of the 
Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." 
]f any one is to quake henceforth, let it be Felix on the 
judgment-seat, or the jailer, with sword in hand and 
keys at belt, or devils in hell, who believe and tremble 
at the bearing of these transfigured men. Yerily it was 
a blessed thing for them — and for us — that Christ should 
depart, and send the Holy Comforter in his place! 
Yerily, verily, the coming of the Spirit, after such a 



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fashion, is infallible proof of tlie rigliteonsness of liini 
who foretold the unparalled event ! 

" He will convict the world.'' Take the words in their 
broadest sense. Pi-ess tliem to their utmost meaning, 
and the chain of evidence only lengthens and strength- 
ens by every test that is applied. The apostles went 
everywhere preaching the word." They carried it, in 
one generation, to the bounds of the known world. 
Their successors carried it to the regions beyond " the 
pale of civilization, and the history of the Church is 
simply this text, writ large. Christ had in view not the 
Jews alone ; nor was his intention limited by the extent 
of empire that satisfied the ambition of a Caesar. 
Humanly speaking, the devil did a very impolitic thing 
when he showed the Son of man all the kingdoms of the 
world and all the glory of them. It was like Edward I. 
taking Bruce into Scotland with him, or like Hezekiah 
showing his treasures to the Babylonish ambassador, 
only to kindle the desire and determination of posses- 
sion. All the nations, to the uttermost parts of the 
earth, are brought into the mind of the Son, as his right- 
ful inheritance. Therefore he commissions his disciples 
to evangelize creation, and he promises the sure and all- 
sufficient help of the Spirit to win the world for hiin. 
Every advance that is made along the line of mission 
effort, every outpost established in savagedom, every 
translation of a soul from the kingdom of darkness to 
that of God's dear Son, is the witness of the Spirit to the 
righteousness of Christ. Every disciple, in whom the 
Spirit dwells, must entertain the towering ambition to 
carry forward the glad tidings of salvation, till " all the 
enils of the world shall remember and turn unto the 



CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



223 



Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship 
before him." That day of world-wide conviction is 
drawing near. The Chnrch has heard the rustling of 
the many wings of heathen souls that fly as doves to 
their windows, and the old promise is brought to mind, 
"Lift up thiiie eyes round about and see. All they 
gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons 
are coming from far, and thy daughters to be nursed at 
thy side." Soon the gospel of " the kingdom " shall be 
published among all nations for a witness unto them, 
and all creeds and symbols of faith shall be compressed 
into one brief, compendious confession of Christ. " And 
this is the name whereby he shall be called : 

The Loed our Eighteousness." 

Brother men, what is your part in bringing about this 
grand consummation? Has the Holy Ghost in you 
borne unmistakable witness that Jesus Christ is now at 
God's right hand, exalted to be a Prince and Saviour, to 
give repentance and remission of sins to all that will 
believe ? Is the Spirit, through you^ taking of the things 
of Christ and showing them unto the world ? Are you 
helping to convict the world of the righteousness of 
Christ? Or are you a non-conductor of spiritual 
impulses, at best an insufficient conductor ? When the 
electric current cannot pass readily along its intended 
channel, the result is sometimes appalling. It explodes 
in destructive lightning, or it kindles into a devouring 
blaze. The Holy Spirit must accomplish his appointed 
task, and, in doing so, he must work along the lines of 
human agency. Are you giving him an ample channel 
to flow out upon the world ? Or, are you heaping up 



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CONVINCING THE WORLD. 



wrath, against the day of righteous retribution? It is a 
glorious and blessed privilege to electrify the world by 
the impact of a life full-charged with, the righteousness 
of Clirist; but it is a foolish and foolhardy policy to 
attempt to conceal and smother that divine flame by a 
life of worldliness and sin. For a time you may be 
unscathed, but the explosive forces are silently accumu- 
lating; they will ere long find a vent or make one. In 
an hour when you think not, the awful burst will come. 
May you never be made to realize the full force of the 
words once and again spoken to the Hebrews : " For the 
Lord thy God is a consuming fire." 



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